Public universities across America are moving their high–demand degrees online. This is the most rapidly developing trend in higher education. Academic Partnerships (AP) assists public universities in converting their traditional programs into an online format, recruits highly–qualified students into these programs, and supports enrolled students throughout their learning processes.
Our services facilitate all aspects of preparing a public university to successfully serve students online by:
Our services enable partner institutions to reduce the time for implementing online delivery. The success of our university partners in increasing enrollment and retention rates has made us a leader of online services and student recruitment for public universities.
Our support of faculty extends beyond the initial course conversion to include:
We also help professors prepare for effective online instruction by connecting them with academic coaches who support them and their students throughout each course.
Our recruiting efforts for public universities have led to more growth in individual programs than has been achieved by other service providers in the higher education sector. The online students we have recruited most often comprise 20 percent or more of the university’s total enrollment within 24 months.
Academic Partnerships is a private higher education service provider supported primarily by family investors with a long-standing interest in increasing access to a high-quality education at public universities in the United States.
Assist public universities in extending the reach of their brands and academic excellence through online learning.
All academically qualified students have access to top-quality post-secondary education from an American public university.
We are committed to the long-term success of public universities and increasing their positive impact on society, the nation’s competitiveness, and overall economic growth. We are also focused on providing the means and ongoing support that enables these partner institutions to increase student access while maintaining their commitment to academic excellence.
We also seek to improve the learning experience, consistent with the expectations and lifestyle of the 21st century student. This entails a much greater utilization of technology and social networks while ensuring that partner institutions remain cutting edge and aware of the latest developments in learning technologies.
Additionally, we seek to extend the reach of our partner institutions into international markets for highly qualified students and thus expand the cultural, political and economic influence inherent in American post-secondary education.
Since long before we were a nation, Americans had a commitment to higher education. Only 16 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Harvard opened its doors to 9 students. All of our early institutions were characterized by small student enrollments from the elite families of their day.
The concept of a broad based, highly educated population began its journey to reality a 150 years ago, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862. The Act called for the establishment of “at least one College in every state upon a sure and perpetual foundation, accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil”.
Now, a century and a half later, a hundred years after the Industrial Revolution, in a nation of 315 million people where over half of all new jobs require a college education, the promise of the Morrill Act is more important than ever.
The words of Abraham Lincoln when he signed the Act are as relevant today as they were then: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew.” Despite the unprecedented success of America’s public university system that is the envy of the world, reduced state and federal funding, almost a trillion dollars in student loans, tuition soaring out of reach for middle class families, stunning demographic changes and declining preparedness for college-level work, today’s public higher education is at a crossroads. Our old ways of doing business are no longer sustainable and the promise of the Morrill Act is in peril.
However, what the authors of the Act could not have imagined is that there would be an opportunity to fully realize their intentions in a far more diverse nation with a vastly larger population. They could not have foreseen the advent of the Internet, social media, small screen technology and the sheer computing power of today’s laptop. Or that almost all knowledge would be at the fingertips of every citizen virtually free. These developments hold an unrealized potential as we look for innovative and creative ways of ensuring the original promise of America’s higher education system for future generations.
By enabling partner institutions to educate a larger and more diverse population of qualified students with undiminished quality, Academic Partnerships is contributing to the future success of public universities.
In the fall of 2007, Academic Partnerships piloted its model in Texas with two public universities. The success of these efforts led to our rapid development as a national and international organization assisting numerous public universities across the U.S. to deliver online programs in 50 states and 37 foreign countries.