George Washington U Aims To Improve Enrollment with Distance Ed
George Washington
University graduate school enrollment in
online programs has increased by more than 1,000 over the last five
years. Administrators
at the 25,000-student Washington, DC, school said they see its online programs as
a way
to offset overall declines in its graduate programs.
This past year saw a net growth of 265 students in
online
graduate programs — mostly in the School
of Nursing and the Milken
Institute
School of Public Health — down, however, from the peak year of
2011 when 535 additional
students enrolled in the university's graduate programs.
All of George Washington's nursing programs are
offered online
and the public health school launched its second online public health
degree
program this past fall.
The two schools worked with third-party companies to
create
and market the online graduate programs, but the university recently
launched
an in-house course design department to both save money and boost the
its
digital course offerings.
Paul Schiff Berman, vice president for online
education and
academic innovation, said five new online programs would be offered
within the
next year and 15 more are in the works.
The George Washington College of Professional
Studies, which
offers nine online programs and three hybrid degrees, has seen a
27-percent
increase in online enrollment over the last five years, this year
signing up
635 new students.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.