The board of governors for higher education, with the approval of the president and a committee of the faculty of Rhode Island College, shall award academic degrees and diplomas and confer honors in the same manner as is customary in American colleges. It shall also be the duty of the president and a committee of the faculty, with the approval of the board of governors for higher education, to arrange courses of study, prescribe any qualifications for the admission of students and any rules of study, exercise, discipline, and government as the president and committee may deem proper.