The board of trustees of the Essex agricultural and technical institute, with the approval of the commissioner, may offer to qualified high school graduates technical courses in agriculture and related pursuits which are vocationally oriented, and, subject to the approval of the board of higher education, may grant associate degrees to persons satisfactorily completing such prescribed courses of instruction. Such courses shall not be less than two years' duration, and shall offer approximately thirty hours of instruction each week for full-time students.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 74, § 35A