Not the AAU - I have my eye on the UIA

[Pudge]

The University Innovation Alliance

What are these schools doing?

Let me give you the names & let's see if you have clues as to what they are driving at:

UCF; Oregon State; Arizona State; University of Kansas; Georgia State University; Purdue University; The Ohio State University; Iowa State University; UC Riverside; University of Texas; and, Michigan State University.

Clues?
Well, there are no Northeast Universities in there. Two of them - Arizona State and UCF - are the FASTEST growing bigger universities in the country. And you have many of the best known academic institutions pushing the envelope. All are Public; and very large Public.

The key stream through all of these is the use of classroom and internet to create scale. Broader offerings and far reaching capacity to teach kids in lots of settings. And, for the most part, the capacity (and willingness) to both lower tuition (and make the Bachelors education affordable to a wider group of learners) and the desire to get away from taking more from their State Government. Arizona State has reduced the State from over 70% of total budget to less than 50%. Class size is not an issue. There are many 1000 seat classes at Arizona State and UCF. But they have a Student Advisor system that is highly interactive. Massive Building/Capital Improvement funding all over these campuses.

CR?

If you see the non-BCS (and non AAU) Universities rise faster than the norm, I think the desire to have that Football team that is Branded & the capacity to push for acceptance rises. Numbers? Arizona State & UCF are both on their way to being 70,000 enrollment. Better acceptance of Community College and transfers. And, they say their Enrollment standards are higher .

 

[Fishy]

If you see the non-BCS (and non AAU) Universities rise faster than the norm, I think the desire to have that Football team that is Branded & the capacity to push for acceptance rises. Numbers? Arizona State & UCF are both on their way to being 70,000 enrollment. Better acceptance of Community College and transfers. And, they say their Enrollment standards are higher .

I have no idea what this means.

How does this apply to us?

 

[Pudge]

Scale

In Academics, these Universities are going to have far more capacity/dollars/leverage just by sheer size. You are not going to be able to keep a school growing like this - in a Florida or an Arizona - out of TV/Branded Athletics. And part of this is tied to Research dollars, Economic influence in vast areas, capacity to merge & create innovative Programs (Arizona State with Starbucks).

Athletics is not a core goal. But, these schools are going to rise. They have the systemic advantage in progressing students through to degrees. Arizona State has grown from 55,491 (2002) to 83,301 (2014) with increases in degree production, freshman persistence, minority enrollment, growth in research infrastructure and dollars in grants. The accessibility of virtually anyone above a standard is processed.

 

[Nostical]

We should never aspire to that kind of size. 83,000 students? No thanks.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Sorry, but I'd much rather be in a prestigious association with schools such as Harvard, MIT, CalTech, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Cornell, Yale, and Wash U. in St. Louis among others.

 

[HoopsFan21]

We should never aspire to that kind of size. 83,000 students? No thanks.

As if the town would ever let UConn get that big.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Sorry, but I'd much rather be in a prestigious association with schools such as Harvard, MIT, CalTech, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Cornell, Yale, and Wash U. in St. Louis among others.

I'd rather be in the B10.

 

[UConn9604]

We should never aspire to that kind of size. 83,000 students? No thanks.

We would have to eat the CSUs, and then eat them again, to get to that size. No thanks is right.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Not long ago I read an article that stated UCF was going to make some ridiculous percentage of their classes (I believe ~82%) online. That number isn't very far from the University of Phoenix. I also heard not long ago that ASU will soon be offering four year degrees in all concentrations taken entirely online.

I can see each of these soon to be massive (in terms of undergraduate student body) schools looking at this as a necessity but I doubt most schools with manageable student bodies would be willing to alter their model that significantly.

 

[upstater]

Scale

In Academics, these Universities are going to have far more capacity/dollars/leverage just by sheer size. You are not going to be able to keep a school growing like this - in a Florida or an Arizona - out of TV/Branded Athletics. And part of this is tied to Research dollars, Economic influence in vast areas, capacity to merge & create innovative Programs (Arizona State with Starbucks).

Athletics is not a core goal. But, these schools are going to rise. They have the systemic advantage in progressing students through to degrees. Arizona State has grown from 55,491 (2002) to 83,301 (2014) with increases in degree production, freshman persistence, minority enrollment, growth in research infrastructure and dollars in grants. The accessibility of virtually anyone above a standard is processed.

Research dollars?

All the latest studies show this isn't working. Though I agree with you that with budget cuts, these schools are turning to online learning because it's cheaper.

But the learning outcomes are incredibly low so far. A lot of the proponents have totally scaled back.

In other words, I think these schools have to do this, but don't expect any reputational outcomes or research dollars. These schools are just on the road to University of Phoenix.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I rather UConn be AAU or even Universitas 21, oh, wait, UConn already is along with hopefully soon to be conference mates at Maryland and Ohio St.

http://www.universitas21.com/member

I believe everyone should have the opportunity to get a solid, affordable, education and that is what the state system (CCSU, ECSU, SSCU, WCSU) is for. A state flagship university should aspire to be elite (see Michigan, Cal, UVA, UNC [excluding their athletic department], etc. and I mean that in terms of education potential, not financial.

 

[NYUConn]

Not long ago I read an article that stated UCF was going to make some ridiculous percentage of their classes (I believe ~82%) online. That number isn't very far from the University of Phoenix. I also heard not long ago that ASU will soon be offering four year degrees in all concentrations taken entirely online.

I can see each of these soon to be massive (in terms of undergraduate student body) schools looking at this as a necessity but I doubt most schools with manageable student bodies would be willing to alter their model that significantly.

Penn State recently started aggressively advertising their online degrees here in NYC on subways. Arizona State has been doing so for a couple years too, I believe I've heard their ads on ESPN radio.

 

[Kolumbo]

Times certainly change. Isn't the AAU also somewhat skewed to size? The midwest is a different landscape than New England, especially when it comes to number and variety of colleges and universities. Those very large U's naturally have much more funding.
UCONN used to be a safety school. Now kids are going to CCSU's and SCSU's because they can't get into UCONN. UCONN is certainly becoming more prestigious but will never be uber-large.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I'd rather be in the B10.

Over the AAU? I don't think so. Well, not unless athletics are your priority. If I had to choose between UConn becoming a top 30 school over having a prominent athletic department, I'd make that trade in a heartbeat. When graduates go on job interviews, I've heard that hiring managers don't seem to give a about how many games our basketball team won, or to which athletic conference the school belongs.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Scale

In Academics, these Universities are going to have far more capacity/dollars/leverage just by sheer size. You are not going to be able to keep a school growing like this - in a Florida or an Arizona - out of TV/Branded Athletics. And part of this is tied to Research dollars, Economic influence in vast areas, capacity to merge & create innovative Programs (Arizona State with Starbucks).

Athletics is not a core goal. But, these schools are going to rise. They have the systemic advantage in progressing students through to degrees. Arizona State has grown from 55,491 (2002) to 83,301 (2014) with increases in degree production, freshman persistence, minority enrollment, growth in research infrastructure and dollars in grants. The accessibility of virtually anyone above a standard is processed.

ASU accepts everybody and graduates nobody. 80%+ acceptance, 31% grad after 4(20 points higher than 2002)and 56% after 6.

 

[HoopsFan21]

ASU leads in number of girls they put into pin up calendars, that's about it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

ASU leads in number of girls they put into pin up calendars, that's about it.

And who work as strippers in Vegas on the weekends!

 

[kibblesnbits]

Are there any schools pushing hybrid degrees - perhaps some terms on-line and some on-campus? It seems there must be a way to gain the cost benefits of on-line learning where it's appropriate, but still have the traditional model in those case where it isn't.

I'm somewhat dubious of pure on-line degrees in any field, but I definitely can't imagine getting an all on-line engineering degree, or in any of the physical sciences for that matter. Beyond the value of lab-based courses, there's also an increased emphasis on undergrad participation in research programs. That's pretty hard to do in a purely on-line setting.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Are there any schools pushing hybrid degrees - perhaps some terms on-line and some on-campus? It seems there must be a way to gain the cost benefits of on-line learning where it's appropriate, but still have the traditional model in those case where it isn't.

'Hybrid' programs have been the operating model for Executive MBA programs for years. I also see it a lot at the community college level. I think in certain areas, especially STEM, education needs to be hands-on. This does not even include the education that college students get outside of the classroom, such as teamwork and hard work in athletics (at any level), studying abroad, or simply learning that if one parties to 2 AM every night and does not work/study that one is going to fail lesson.

 

[Palatine]

I have my eye on the UAE.

 

[Stinger92860]

Are there any schools pushing hybrid degrees - perhaps some terms on-line and some on-campus? It seems there must be a way to gain the cost benefits of on-line learning where it's appropriate, but still have the traditional model in those case where it isn't.

I'm somewhat dubious of pure on-line degrees in any field, but I definitely can't imagine getting an all on-line engineering degree, or in any of the physical sciences for that matter. Beyond the value of lab-based courses, there's also an increased emphasis on undergrad participation in research programs. That's pretty hard to do in a purely on-line setting.

My daughter is going hybrid for her Masters. Several courses are onsite in a classroom once a week.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Times certainly change. Isn't the AAU also somewhat skewed to size? The midwest is a different landscape than New England, especially when it comes to number and variety of colleges and universities. Those very large U's naturally have much more funding.
UCONN used to be a safety school. Now kids are going to CCSU's and SCSU's because they can't get into UCONN. UCONN is certainly becoming more prestigious but will never be uber-large.

FYI, Brandeis University outside of Boston is a private university with just 3,500 undergraduates and has been a member since 1985.

 

[Kolumbo]

FYI, Brandeis University outside of Boston is a private university with just 3,500 undergraduates and has been a member since 1985.

Since 1985, 14 schools have joined with an average total enrollment of about 30k. Brandeis and Rice are outliers in terms of size.
Tufts U. would seem to be a candidate, large top rated private U.

 

[Kolumbo]

https://www.insidehighered.com/news...ll_aau_criteria_after_syracuse_nebraska_leave
Is the B1G concerned about the qualifications or just the badge?
"An increasing number of universities are qualified, and not all of them will ever make the cut. “It’s just not possible to have 50 universities make it into the top 10,” Feller said. The question, he added, is whether institutions will find other ways to judge quality on their own terms.
Leebron, the Rice president who would like to see the organization remain small, said that while there was no “magic number” for the ideal size, some universities will remain, or become, stellar institutions without the coveted badge of membership."

 

[jostar1]

https://www.insidehighered.com/news...ll_aau_criteria_after_syracuse_nebraska_leave
Is the B1G concerned about the qualifications or just the badge?
"An increasing number of universities are qualified, and not all of them will ever make the cut. “It’s just not possible to have 50 universities make it into the top 10,” Feller said. The question, he added, is whether institutions will find other ways to judge quality on their own terms.
Leebron, the Rice president who would like to see the organization remain small, said that while there was no “magic number” for the ideal size, some universities will remain, or become, stellar institutions without the coveted badge of membership."

Did you notice the comment to the article:

Makersmuppet • a year ago


UConn and VPI will both be invited to the AAU soon and both be invited to the B1G right after that. That completes the schools missions as well as the B1Gs. It's the most obvious yet un talked about thing in college sports and research rumors these days.