From the New York Times via the Kept-Up Academic Librarian,
Troubles grow for a University Built on Profits.
PHOENIX — The University of Phoenix became the nation’s largest private university by delivering high profits to investors and a solid, albeit low-overhead, education to midcareer workers seeking college degrees.
But its reputation is fraying as prominent educators, students and some of its own former administrators say the relentless pressure for higher profits, at a university that gets more federal student financial aid than any other, has eroded academic quality.
Not surprised by the report but at how many times U of P can pay off and settle lawsuits. A couple observations and questions. First, and repeated elsewhere on this blog, potential students need to educate themselves better on the quality of education (or should I say…product) they will be getting. Maybe institutions need to start offering “free samples” in a matter of speaking.
Struck by a line here
Dr. Pepicello shrugged off the bad news. Many top corporations still pay for employees to attend the university.
Maybe I should not be surprised (if the above is true) that businesses don’t really care about the quality of education their workers are getting.
About 95 percent of instructors are part-time, according to federal statistics, compared with an average of 47 percent across all universities. Most have full-time day jobs. Courses are written at university headquarters, easing class preparation time for instructors.
I don’t think it takes much to see that this will eventually be a problem. I am not sure on what the writer of the article means when “courses are written at university headquarters”? By committee? Is the instructor even there? Educating by script?
Stacey Clark, 32, an office manager in East Wenatchee, Wash., enrolled in online courses in April and was delighted to receive A’s in her first courses, she said. Later, Ms. Clark decided her instructors were too disengaged to criticize her work. One returned a 2,500-word essay on performance-enhancing drugs with an A but not one comment, she said.
Well, this goes back to the fact that most of the profs are part time and have other full time jobs. I am not surprised by this at all. Would be interesting to see how they train or even hire instructors.
Now, I don’t want to jump on U of P specifically, as I think it just re-enforces that ALL institutions that offer online degrees/classes need to think about how these classes are delivered and students need to be honest with themselves. Convenience is not always the best option. When are universities going to carry a warranty with their degrees??
