UMassOnline Revenue For FY ‘08 Sees 32%
Increase to $37M While Enrollment Growth Exceeds 26%
While Overall Higher Education Student Population Grew by 1.5% in the
U.S., UMassOnline Enrollments Show Better than 26% Increase to 33,900
SHREWSBURY, Mass. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) April 30, 2008 --
Pointing to its continually expanding portfolio of programs, its first
year of innovative blended learning offerings, and a growing regional,
national and international reputation and reach, UMassOnline,
the online learning division of the University of Massachusetts, today
announced a second consecutive fiscal year of record-breaking enrollment
and revenue results. Matching last year’s
results, which were the best in three years, fiscal year 2008 at
UMassOnline saw a 26.2% increase in enrollments, to 33,900 over 26,855
in fiscal year 2007, and a 31.9% increase in revenue to $36,977,854 over
fiscal year 2007 revenues of $28,030,985.
Nationally, as of the Fall 2006 semester, according to the Sloan
Consortium’s most recent research report
entitled ‘Online
Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning,' online enrollments
nationwide were growing by 9.7% while the growth rate in the overall
higher education student population was 1.5%. In contrast UMassOnline’s
enrollment in fiscal year 2008 grew two and a half times faster than the
national average for online enrollments.
UMassOnline CEO David Gray attributes the sustained growth, in part, to
developments throughout the fiscal year that saw UMassOnline, in
cooperation with faculty, administrators, and course development
professionals at the University of Massachusetts campuses, introduce new
blended learning innovations for online learners, new programs matching
contemporary career interests of adult learners, and new initiatives to
expand the organization’s reach and reputation
globally.
The first blended learning offering, announced in June, 2007, featured
the Graduate Program in Health
Management and Policy via UMass Lowell. In November, 2007,
UMassOnline launched the nation’s first fully
online Master
of Public Health in Nutrition via UMass Amherst. Later that same
month, ten new
blended learning programs were announced representing all five
campuses in the University of Massachusetts system.
These included a BA
in Health and Human Services and Doctor
of Nursing Practice from UMass Amherst; Expansion of RN
to BS and Post
Master's Nurse Practitioner Certificate program from UMass Boston; B.A.
in Liberal Arts Degree Completion program and business programs from
UMass Dartmouth; Health
Management and Policy Master’s program
with Certificates in Health Informatics, Health Management, and Health
Policy from UMass Lowell; and Nurse
Educator Post-Master's Certificate program and OBGYN Professional
Development Training for Clinical Issues from UMass Worcester Graduate
School of Nursing.
In January of this year, three
more online study concentrations were announced. These new programs
included a collaborative focus in Arts Administration –
the first and only program of its kind in the nation –
as well as within the rapidly changing fields of Journalism Studies and
Health and Human Services. And earlier this month, UMassOnline
announced a partnership agreement with two major organizations in China
which puts UMassOnline on a path to receive Chinese Ministry of
Education approval for a significant number and diversity of accredited
online programs in China and serve as the distance learning model for
future approvals.
Major Initiative on the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning a Key, Too
“In the past year,”
said Mr. Gray, “we at UMassOnline have also
focused on a major initiative on the scholarship of teaching and
learning in the online environment, with an emphasis on how to maximize
technology to accelerate, optimize, and enrich the student and faculty
experience. In addition to the course quality we are able to offer based
on our access to first-rate degree and certificate programs sourced from
our traditional campuses, our mission at UMassOnline is to innovate
world-class adaptations of these traditional quality courses to the
virtual world of distance learning by the best possible implementation
of technological tools, techniques, and applications.”
About UMassOnline
UMassOnline, the online learning division of the University of
Massachusetts, provides the highest quality education offered by the
UMass system in a flexible, online format enabling students,
professionals, and lifelong learners to take courses anywhere, anytime.
With 80 undergraduate and graduate degree, certificate and professional
development programs and more than 1,500 courses, UMassOnline offers one
of the largest accredited online programs available. Programs span the
disciplines for which the University is best known: liberal arts,
education, management, nursing, public health, information technology,
and other disciplines. UMassOnline courses are taught by the same
award-winning faculty who teach on-campus, offering online students the
same rich experience as the face-to-face classroom. Students from around
the world and from almost every state are among our 33,900 enrollees.
For more about UMassOnline, go to www.umassonline.net
or visit our blog at www.umassonlineblog.com.
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