September 17, 2007 | The University
The City University of New York is now set to offer a fully Online Bachelor of Science Degree in Business, beginning in January, 2008. This innovative program is available for former students who left college in good standing without a bachelor’s degree, often because of work or parenting responsibilities. Now a return to college is available —as a fully online program offered through the University’s School of Professional Studies, based at CUNY’s Graduate School and University Center.
Developed by business faculty throughout CUNY, the program was authorized this summer by the Board of Trustees, and was recently approved by the New York State Board of Regents.
Many students in good academic standing “stop out” of college before completing their degrees. The necessity to work full-time or provide care for children are among the compelling reasons why on-campus instruction is no longer an option for them. Research has shown that the first choice for many of these students, could they resume their educations, would be a business degree.
Chancellor Matthew Goldstein said, “CUNY is extending opportunities for quality higher education to prospective students who previously earned college credits but did not cross the finish line. Now they can complete the race to graduation on-line.”
The new Online BS in Business will re-open the door to higher education for many in a high demand major. It doesn’t just remove scheduling difficulties; it is designed to transform and heighten the learning experience. The program combines access to business education with an enhanced form of learning especially suited to the business world.
“Business faculty from across CUNY have designed an exceptional business degree program for the post-Enron, Internet-dependent world,” according to John Mogulescu, Dean of the School of Professional Studies. “The online medium fosters the communication skills necessary in the 21st-century workplace while also allowing ‘real-world’ applications and simulations that would not have been possible in the past.”
For example, “The Capstone Project,” to be taken in the student’s final term, includes a “Virtual Enterprise” option focusing on a business simulation where students create and operate virtual firms and take virtual products and services to market in the global economy. Activities include hands-on experience with concept development, business planning, e-commerce, marketing, strategic planning, finance, accounting, and management in an interactive and realistic business environment.
The University launched its School of Professional Studies (SPS) in 2003 to meet the educational needs of working adults through timely, flexible, and academically rigorous programs. In 2006 SPS initiated online degree instruction with an Online BA program offering “stop-outs” a liberal arts education with a concentration in Communication and Culture. Dr. George Otte, academic director of that program, notes that most of the several hundred students enrolled in the program report having an extraordinarily rich learning experience. “This is not simply access to a comparable college experience. The interaction among the students, and between students and instructors, is extremely high, and the faculty is very dedicated.”
CUNY has nearly ten years of success in offering online courses, and the Online BS in Business, like the Online BA before it, draws on faculty across CUNY who have been on the cutting edge of online instruction. The two online degree programs share a general education curriculum of mutually reinforcing subjects and competencies. In addition to courses in the arts, humanities, social sciences, science and mathematics, it stresses skills in communication, in inquiry, and in critical and creative thinking. As a crucial foundation for both programs, the general education courses also foster individual and social responsibility in civic engagement, ethical reasoning, and intercultural relations.
The general education curriculum, which meets standards for a liberal education set by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, is capped by a 10-course, 30-credit concentration in each degree, and, in the case of the Online BS in Business, an even wider array of business electives.
“The Online BS in Business will be soundly traditional in its general education offerings, comprehensive in its business core, and open to individual interests and tailoring in its electives,” says Dean Mogulescu.
Applications are now being accepted for CUNY’s new Online BS in Business Degree program. Classes will begin on January 27, 2008.
Applicants must have a minimum of 30 earned credits and a GPA of 2.5 or better to qualify for admission. The program requires 120 credits for graduation, with at least 30 of those credits earned in the program.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university. CUNY comprises 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, the Graduate School and University Center, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, the CUNY School of Law at Queens College, the CUNY School of Professional Studies, and the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. The University serves more than 226,000 degree-credit students and 230,000 adult, continuing and professional education students. College Now, the University’s academic enrichment program for 32,500 high school students, is offered at CUNY campuses and more than 280 high schools throughout the five boroughs of the City of New York. The University has launched an online baccalaureate degree through the School of Professional Studies, and a new Teacher Academy offering free tuition for highly motivated mathematics and science majors who seek teaching careers in the city.