Highly Ranked and Growing
With a top-10 national ranking in online education for its School of Education reaffirmed, UAlbany is looking to achieve similar results across all schools and colleges.
The education school is now rated the number one provider of online graduate education in the Northeast, according to the 2019 rankings of U.S. News & World Report, released on Jan. 15. The school also placed 8th overall in the nation — its third straight year in the top-10 among more than 300 U.S. universities.
“Since our founding as New York’s first public school of education, the University at Albany has been a leader in providing New Yorkers and beyond with access to high quality and cutting edge degree programs,” said School of Education Interim Dean Jason Lane. “We’re thrilled that our two decades of commitment to online education has led us to be named the top provider of online graduate education degrees in the Northeast and number 8 in the nation.”
Increasing Online Investment
UAlbany’s associate provost for online education, Associate Professor Peter Shea, attributed the School’s high ranking to a “continued investment in online education across the University. UAlbany has more than tripled its number of online credentials to 17 in the past five years and seen more than 770 students taking only online courses in Fall 2018, more than double the 369 students in 2015.” Included in its program offerings is an Informatics undergraduate degree that is offered entirely online.
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UAlbany Associate Provost for Online Education Peter Shea.
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In the next three years, the University at Albany Graduate School is expected to offer new baccalaureate and graduate online programs in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security & Cybersecurity (CEHC), School of Criminal Justice, School of Public Health, and Rockefeller College.
This plan is fully consistent with the priorities of President Havidán Rodríguez as articulated in the University’s Strategic Plan. Among the plan’s first-year “Accelerators” for funding in the area of Student Success is “On-Line Education Program Development.”
“At universities throughout the country, online learning is a strategic priority to achieve University enrollment goals, especially for graduate programs,” said Shea. He pointed to a recent UAlbany market analysis, conducted with the aid of Wiley Education services, that identified a number of high-demand options for new online program development in the short term and long term (including interdisciplinary online options) for the University to pursue.
SOE as the Model
The School of Education’s U.S. News ranking was based on the level of student engagement, reputation among peers, services provided for online students, the quality of faculty and the characteristics of enrolled students. The school has been creating and honing online versions of its high-quality degree programs for more than two decades.
“We plan to leverage lessons learned from the School of Education in designing new online courses and programs,” said Shea. “We will continue to convene leadership in the schools and colleges to discuss how best to meet the needs of students, employers, and society with more flexible access to cutting-edge, high-demand online programs.”
Longer-term options drawn from the market analysis, said Shea, include joint programs between UAlbany schools and colleges. He noted interdisciplinary programs involving both Public Health and CEHC, and the School of Business’s work in the areas of health informatics and health data analytics.
The University will also be pursuing internal and external development, said Shea. “Plans include using internal resources located in both the Institute for Teaching, Learning & Academic Leadership and the Educational Technology Center to assist with online course design.”
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