Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 119.djvu/3264

 119 STAT. 3246

PUBLIC LAW 109–163—JAN. 6, 2006

‘‘(C) The Secretary may permit an eligible enlisted member of the Navy or Marine Corps to receive instruction from the Postgraduate School in certificate programs and courses required for the performance of the member’s duties.’’; and (C) in subparagraph (D), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘(A) and (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘(A), (B), and (C)’’; and (2) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘(a)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)(2)(D)’’. (b) LIMITATION ON DEGREE AWARDS.—Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: ‘‘(d) The Secretary may not award a baccalaureate, masters, or doctorate degree to an enlisted member based upon instruction received at the Postgraduate School under subsection (a)(2)(C).’’. (c) REPORT ON RATIONALE AND PLANS OF THE NAVY TO PROVIDE ENLISTED MEMBERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO OBTAIN GRADUATE DEGREES.—The Secretary of the Navy shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report on the plans, if any, of the Secretary, and the rationale for those plans, for a program to provide enlisted members of the Navy with opportunities to pursue graduate degree programs either through Navy schools or paid for by the Navy in return for an additional service obligation. The report shall include the following: (1) The underlying philosophy and objectives supporting a decision to provide opportunities for graduate degrees to enlisted members of the Navy. (2) An overall description of how the award of a graduate degree to an enlisted member would fit in an integrated, progressive, coordinated, and systematic way into the goals and requirements of the Navy for enlisted career development and for professional education, together with a discussion of a wider requirement, if any, for programs for the award of associate and baccalaureate degrees to enlisted members, particularly in the career fields under consideration for the pilot program referred to in subsection (d). (3) A discussion of the scope and details of the plan to ensure that Navy enlisted members have the requisite academic baccalaureate degrees as a prerequisite for undertaking graduate-level work. (4) Identification of the specific enlisted career fields for which the Secretary has determined that a graduate degree should be a requirement, as well as the rationale for that determination. (5) A description of the concept of the Secretary for the process and mechanism of providing graduate degrees to enlisted members, including, at a minimum, the Secretary’s plan for whether the degree programs would be provided through civilian or military degree-granting institutions and whether through in-resident or distance learning or some combination thereof. (6) A description of the plan to ensure proper and effective utilization of enlisted members following the award of a graduate degree. (d) PLAN FOR PILOT PROGRAM.—In addition to the report under subsection (c), the Secretary of the Navy may submit a plan for a pilot program to make available opportunities to pursue graduate degree programs to a limited number of Navy enlisted members

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