The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shall have exclusive power to regulate and prescribe the terms of admission of students to the courses of instruction prescribed from time to time to candidates for its degrees and on the satisfactory completion of such courses of study to confer degrees as authorized by chapter one hundred fifty-one of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and the several laws amendatory thereof and to award suitable diplomas or certificates thereof.