UMassOnline in the News

SHREWSBURY, MA – April 30, 2008 – Pointing to its continually expanding portfolio of programs, its first year of innovative blended learning offerings, and a growing regional, national and international reputation and reach, UMassOnline, the online learning division of the University of Massachusetts, today announced a second consecutive fiscal year of record-breaking enrollment and revenue results. Matching last year’s results, which were the best in three years, fiscal year 2008 at UMassOnline saw a 26.2% increase in enrollments, to 33,900 over 26,855 in fiscal year 2007, and a 31.9% increase in revenue to $36,977,854 over fiscal year 2007 revenues of $28,030,985.

Nationally, as of the Fall 2006 semester, according to the Sloan Consortium’s most recent research report entitled ‘Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning,' online enrollments nationwide were growing by 9.7% while the growth rate in the overall higher education student population was 1.5%. In contrast UMassOnline’s enrollment in fiscal year 2008 grew two and a half times faster than the national average for online enrollments.

UMassOnline CEO David Gray attributes the sustained growth, in part, to developments throughout the fiscal year that saw UMassOnline, in cooperation with faculty, administrators, and course development professionals at the University of Massachusetts campuses, introduce new blended learning innovations for online learners, new programs matching contemporary career interests of adult learners, and new initiatives to expand the organization’s reach and reputation globally. 

The first blended learning offering, announced in June, 2007, featured the Graduate Program in Health Management and Policy via UMass Lowell. In November, 2007, UMassOnline launched the nation’s first fully online Master of Public Health in Nutrition via UMass Amherst. Later that same month, ten new blended learning programs were announced representing all five campuses in the University of Massachusetts system.

These included a BA in Health and Human Services and Doctor of Nursing Practice from UMass Amherst; Expansion of RN to BS and Post Master's Nurse Practitioner Certificate program from UMass Boston; B.A. in Liberal Arts Degree Completion program and business programs from UMass Dartmouth; Health Management and Policy Master’s program with Certificates in Health Informatics, Health Management, and Health Policy from UMass Lowell; and Nurse Educator Post-Master's Certificate program and OBGYN Professional Development Training for Clinical Issues from UMass Worcester Graduate School of Nursing.

In January of this year, three more online study concentrations were announced. These new programs included a collaborative focus in Arts Administration – the first and only program of its kind in the nation – as well as within the rapidly changing fields of Journalism Studies and Health and Human Services. And earlier this month, UMassOnline announced a partnership agreement with two major organizations in China which puts UMassOnline on a path to receive Chinese Ministry of Education approval a significant number and diversity of accredited online programs in China and serve as the distance model for future approvals.

Major Initiative on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning a Key, Too
“In the past year,” said Mr. Gray, “we at UMassOnline have also focused on a major initiative on the scholarship of teaching and learning in the online environment, with an emphasis on how to maximize technology to accelerate, optimize, and enrich the student and faculty experience. In addition to the course quality we are able to offer based on our access to first-rate degree and certificate programs sourced from our traditional campuses, our mission at UMassOnline is to innovate world-class adaptations of these traditional quality courses to the virtual world of distance learning by the best possible implementation of technological tools, techniques, and applications."

Date: 04/30/08