Partnership between NSU and JU

Hello all. I'm currently an MBA student at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, FL. I was on campus yesterday evening to take a final exam, and I spotted a copy of the campus newspaper sitting on a table within the business building. I picked it up to glance through the news, and I was suprised to see a story on the front page that said a partnership between JU and Nova Southeastern University was in the works.

The article stated that several talks had occured between the higher-ups of both universities, and it looked promising that such a partnership would take place. I managed to catch the dean of the school of business in his office, so I asked him what he thought of the situation. He was very happy about the proposed partnership, since it offered the opportunity for a much larger variety of education to be offered to JU students.

If the partnership goes through, the possibilities for NSU are quite good. JU owns over 40 acres of land that could be used by NSU on a long-term lease, and JU is due to finish construction on a new business building that could also be utilized by NSU for instruction. As a matter of fact, one of the classrooms in the new building is wired with cameras and televisions for real-time distance learning and communication. I'm assuming that teaching, library, and computer lab resources would be shared between the colleges as well.

For those of us in Northern Florida that are interested in what NSU has to offer, this will help bridge the gap a bit. NSU does have a Jacksonville presence already, but it is geared towards their business programs. My personal interest is in NSU's CIS PhD program, so I'd be very happy if I could attend a class or two at JU (and use the local JU library) rather than slug through all the classwork long-distance.

Anyway, FYI. If anyone from the NSU side has heard anything, I'd be interested to see how this proposed partnership is being received on that end of things.

Andrew

 

Andrew,

I have considered taking classes at JU. My wife has also considered finishing her BS at JU.

What do you think of the school, instructors, etc?

 

JU does well with the resources it has. The monolithic University of North Florida tends to grab a lot of JU's students due to the lower state tuition and large variety of classes offered. I began taking masters classes at JU roughly a month after I moved to Florida, so the out-of-state tuition of UNF put me off of the school.

JU is rather small, but the professors in the Davis School of Business have been excellent. I came from the University of California at Irvine's MBA program, which is a really top-notch program, and I found that the instruction at JU is pretty decent in comparison. I did not attend JU for my undergraduate degree, so I can't really vouch for the majority of the professors and staff at the college. The library is decent, and there are several computer labs for student usage. I think you'll find that the facilities there are pretty good.

There is an adult degree program that is suited for working individuals that want to get a bachelors degree. Each class is offered once a week for either 10 or 12 weeks in a single session (3.5 hours long, I think). You can pick the classes you need to finish your degree, pick some nights that work for you, and then go to town. For what it's worth, the evening MBA program at JU follows much the same format: Classes monday through thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:20. I'm not sure what variety of classes are offered in the adult degree program, but I know that all ten of the MBA classes are offered every semester in the evenings.

Andrew