Boot camps have become the activities of choice to build new skills through intensive, engaged training, especially in tech and information management fields, for individuals who do not want to commit to the longer – and often more expensive – graduate degree programs. Until recently, these have not been associated with formal colleges and universities. Northeastern University is deploying one of the first boot camp programs from a traditional university, called “Level”, as a non-credit, two-month long program on data analytics. Northeastern’s boot camp will run alongside of its existing graduate degree programs in urban informatics and information design and visualization.
Category Archives: Adult Learning
Link: Future Students, Future Revenues [EAB restricted content]
“This brief, based on conversations with over 150 higher education leaders across North America, analyzes the fundamental forces that will shape higher education over the next decade and highlights the strategies and competencies that colleges and universities will need to be successful.”
“Over the past decade, universities were able to grow revenue primarily by growing enrollment and increasing net tuition per student. But demographic and economic changes will make it increasingly difficult for all but a handful of institutions to grow tuition revenue at historic rates. Despite rising access rates, demographic projections suggest that the number of high school graduates will decline over the coming decade, leading to a dramatic drop-off in the overall rate of enrollment growth.”
Key Takeaways:
- Nontraditional students will drive enrollment and revenue growth, not traditional student population (18-22 year olds).
- Need to invest in serving nontraditional students.
- Online and hybrid education can assist, but strategy should be driven by student needs, not external forces.
Link: Adult College Completion in the 21st Century
Comprehensive report on adult students and college completion. Sections include: demographics, marketing and outreach, institutional services, promoting academic success, and strategic partnerships. Published June 2015.
Interest in adult college completion, both for adults with some college credit and those who have never before attended college, has dramatically increased across the higher education community. This report draws from the considerable body of recent research focused on various populations of adult learners, including data gathered during Higher Ed Insight’s recent evaluation of Lumina Foundation’s adult college completion efforts. The goal of the report is to synthesize what has been learned about the needs of adult college students, particularly those returning to college after stopping out, as well as to identify areas where further inquiry is needed in order to demonstrate effective ways to support degree completion for adults.
Link: Understanding the Changing Market for Professional Master’s Programs
In both core disciplines and new niche fields, the key to capturing emerging market growth is customizing offerings not just to “working professionals” but to distinct segments within this group— career starters, career advancers, career changers, and career crossers—through features such as flexible delivery, stackable credentials, practical experience, accelerated format, interdisciplinary pathways, and professional development.
With the market for master’s degrees growing and changing, this segment is estimated to outpace all other degrees. The program focus will be on specific job skills that help students gain a new job or advance in an existing position.
Content restricted to registered users. Please contact a site administrator to request this material.
Link: Facing Flattening Enrollments? Alternate Student Pathways Might Help
Godow argues that enrollment growth can most sustainably be sourced from four previously underrepresented populations: international undergraduate students, community college transfers, adults returning to complete degrees, and professional master’s degree students. While institutions have historically shied away from targeting these populations due to the perception that such students have inadequate preparation for the university environment, developing targeted programming for these groups, including alternative paths to the degree, has proven successful.
Successful institutions have found that the different needs of these populations can often be met through “pathways” offering an alternative route to a degree. Pathways acknowledge that these students start from a different point and need a unique set of services and pedagogical approaches to be successful.
Content restricted to registered users. Please contact a site administrator to request this material.
Link: Access to Learning: Opportunities for Adult Learners to Excel Beyond the Baccalaureate
This article presents an overview of West Virginia University’s Regents Bachelor of Arts, a flexible degree completion program for adult learners that has embraced competency-based education and industry partnerships. WVU is now connecting those learners with further education options, creating articulation agreements with various graduate degree programs to provide a transfer pathway for motivated adult learners.
One of the compelling results of the RBA program is having adult learners fully understand the value of their life and work experience and how those experiences form the basis for a robust educational experience. The RBA has provided many of our students with the confidence and the credentials needed to compete for jobs that require a postsecondary credential.