University of St. Thomas Selects Bisk For Online Ed

  • By Mike Hohenbrink
  • 08/15/12

The University of St. Thomas will develop online degree and certificate programs in partnership with a private firm.

The St. Paul, MN-based private university with enrollment of over 10,000 students will partner with Bisk Education’s University Alliance Division to assist in the process of developing and delivering the new online programs with the first program, a Master of Arts in public safety and law enforcement leadership, going live in March 2013.

The online offerings will supplement the school's current degree programs on its campuses with over 90 such undergraduate and 60 such graduate degree offerings.

The new M.A. will be offered through the College of Education, Leadership and Counseling at St. Thomas.

Bisk will provide the school the technical expertise for the endeavor including:

  • Streaming video capacity for lectures;
  • Live chat rooms; and
  • Discussion Boards.

For its part, the university will retain control over admissions, academic records, tuition, intellectual property and copyrights as well as authority over hiring and firing all faculty and staff involved in the program.

"The University of St. Thomas selected Bisk Education as its online vendor of choice because of a mutual interest in offering rigorous academic programs online for graduate students," said Dr. Sue Huber, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at the university.

The new online offerings will adhere to the same curriculum requirements required for all university degree programs, and students in the online programs will receive diplomas identical to those given to students at physical campus locations.

Following the initial M.A. offering next March, additional programs are planned to be offered by the Opus College of Business and the School of Social Work and the School of Engineering.

"We're proud to be selected by such a highly respected institution as the University of St. Thomas," said Nathan M. Bisk, Founder and Chairman of Bisk Education. "We are committed to delivering St. Thomas' rich tradition and unmatched academic excellence to students anytime, anywhere online, enabling them to reach their personal and professional goals. The addition of St. Thomas' degree programs to Bisk's University Alliance division brings diversity to the current graduate level offerings and provides that audience with new opportunities."

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