Competency-Based Education

Rasmussen College Approved for Competency-Based Education Model

The private college has received approval from the Higher Learning Commission to offer competency-based hybrid degree programs within the School of Business.

• By Sri Ravipati
• 07/08/16

Rasmussen College announced it will begin offering competency-based education (CBE) hybrid degree programs. The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) approved the CBE format for the college’s existing Business Management and Accounting programs.

The new CBE hybrid model will first launch within the School of Business. “Students will take competency-based courses, which are faculty-led, self-paced and project-based, alongside their traditional courses,” according to a news release. “They have the opportunity to engage with rich, interactive content as well as collaborate with faculty and fellow students to learn the course material, and students have the ability to show what they know as soon as they know it.”

Although the CBE format is just starting to be implemented in associate’s and bachelor's programs, Rasmussen College has been working in the business of CBE programs for quite some time. Last year, Rasmussen participated in the United States Department of Education’s Experimental Sites Initiative that was created to plan best practices and federal financial aid disbursement for CBE programs. In addition, the college joined the Competency-Based Education Network, a national consortium for designing, developing and scaling new models for student learning. Recently, Campus Management awarded Rasmussen the Award of Excellence in Innovation for its advancements in CBE.

The for-profit private college has 24 campuses across Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota, Florida, Wisconsin and Kansas. Further information is available on the Rasmussen College site.