Religious Studies Distance Education

I have seen universities for instance Nationsuniversity though unaccreditated teaching quite a comprehensive bible studies from diplomas to masters. One thing that I find weird is, why isn't there any corresponding Buddhist or Islamic institutes doing the same work as what Nationsuniversity is doing? Or does anyone has any distance learning universities that are teaching Islamic studies or Buddhist studies similarly to Nations?

 

I'd hazard to guess that it might be due to those 2 religions being primarily in non-English speaking countries. Perhaps something may exist online, which is not in English.

 

I hope to see Islamic studies more freely and easily available on the Internet. Hopefully through education, Muslims and non Muslims may understand each other better leading to lesser conflicts....

 

I think it has to do with the US being a majority Christian nation is why you don‘t see them everywhere. I am sure these programs are offered though, at a much smaller scale. On a said note I read that over 30% of all Muslims that move to the US stop practicing or convert within one year and another 18% within two years (Benokraitis, 2008)... Could that be something to do with it?

Works Cited

Benokraitis, N. V. (2008). Marriages & Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints, Sixth Edition. Persons.

 

University of New England in Australia offers a Graduate Certificate in World Religions. Course choices include a course in Island and one in Buddhism.

UNE Graduate Certificate in World Religions

It's not cheap though ... according to their international distance fees sheet the cost for the certificate (four courses) is approx $6,765.79US.

 

I understand that their are several Buddist universities that offer DL courses including University of the West
University of the West - Extended Education Studies

 

I can't comment on Islamic studies. There are a number of DL opportunities for Buddhist studies, but most of them don't emphasize degrees.

The only English language Buddhist studies DL degree program that I'm currently aware of is an unusual one. It's an MA awarded by the International Buddhist College in Hat Yai, Thailand.

http://elearning.ibc.ac.th/MA/Curriculum

International Buddhist College is the work of ethnic Chinese Buddhists from Penang Malaysia who apparently decided that it would be easier to create a new Buddhist university across the border in neighboring Buddhist Thailand.

I believe that the Thai education ministry has given it their equivalent of accreditation. I'm not sure of the details though. The school is listed in the Thai education ministry's English language listing of Thai higher-education institutions.

http://www.mua.go.th/data_main/directory_che.doc

So it's likely 'GAAP', if obscure.

It has a modern physical campus that's newly constructed. From the looks of it, a large percentage of its students are monastics. Lots of shaved heads and robes in the classrooms. That says something positive about its authenticity, I guess. IBC student housing makes special provisions for monastics.

The American 'Chronicle of Higher Education' visited the newly opened college in Thailand and did a long and favorable illustrated story about it, published in the March 30, 2007 issue. My impression is that most academics working in Buddhist studies in the US are aware of it.

The University of the West in Rosemead California is regionally accredited, affiliated with the Taiwanese Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order, and offers Buddhist studies up to the Ph.D. level. Although it doesn't offer any DL degree programs, it does offer an online certificate program in Buddhist studies and offers several DL Buddhist studies classes each semester that can be taken individually.

http://www.uwest.edu/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=208&Itemid=156

The Ranjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu Nepal is another exotic one that's recently started offering individual classes, in English, in several DL formats.

http://cbs.edu.np/online-learning-program/

This one is based on a B&M program taught (in English) inside one Nepal's largest Buddhist monasteries and offers bachelors and masters degrees awarded by the (GAAP) University of Kathmandu. The bachelors program is more impressive than most masters degrees that I've seen. I'm not the only one that thinks so either, since UC Berkeley's Buddhist studies doctoral program recommends this to students looking for a bachelors degree, which Berkeley doesn't offer. Just in terms of languages, Ranjung Yeshe Institute BA graduates emerge fluent in classical and modern Tibetan, Nepali and Sanskrit. Berkeley's very textually oriented and expects applicants to already have the equivalent of a masters in Asian languages. So that tells you something.

http://www.shedra.org/

Naropa University in Boulder Colorado is RA and Buddhist affiliated. It offers several rather trendy low-residency degrees. But none of these are in Buddhist studies specifically. I believe that there is some residency in Colorado involved as well.

http://www.naropa.edu/distancelearning/programs.cfm

Depite the fact that it's unaccredited, I kind of like Maitripa College in Portland Oregon. This one is approved by the Oregon ODA to award Buddhist studies masters degrees. (It's actually approved and isn't hiding behind a religious exemption.) The MA isn't approved for DL delivery, so Maitripa only awards a certificate by DL (actually two, one in Buddhist studies and the other in East-West psychology) despite requiring pretty much the same work as the masters, including a thesis. This school is totally sincere and not a mill. If I have any reservations about it, it's that it might not have all the resources necessary to pull everything off. But it does get support from a number of prominent Buddhist studies scholars who have lectured there.

http://www.maitripa.org/online/index.html

If somebody is serious about doing this, they probably need to think about tackling the relevant languages.

There are a number of non-credit online Sanskrit offerings that cost virtually nothing. Sanskrit is important in Indian Buddhism and is a good foundation for the rather-similar Pali.

Here's a free online self-study Sanskrit course. It includes an introduction to the Devanagari script and 12 lessons. You can kind of putter around with it and test the waters.

http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/lessons.php

For something a little more ambitious, here's a 2-year university level correspondence course.

http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/main/distance_education.htm

Apparently the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in New Delhi is funded by the Indian government for the purposes of promoting Sanskrit, is a "deemed university" and is recognized by the University Grants Council. But considering as how this is only a certificate course and only costs $20/year US (that includes books), there's not a great deal of risk, whatever it is. You would be taking the course for the knowledge.

Moving even farther away from university courses, here's a comprehensive Tibetan Buddhism program, offered in English, with most of it available by DL. It's offered by Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a prominent Gelugpa organization in the West.

First there's the introduction level lasts two years part-time.
http://www.fpmt.org/dbhome/default.asp

Graduates can then progress into a more ambitious intermediate-level five year (part time) 'Basic Program'.

http://www.fpmt.org/education/bpdescription.asp

It includes introductory study of several traditional texts (in translation) and an introduction to some of the traditional Tibetan philosophical subjects.

Finally, there's a rather ambitious 6-year-long "master's program". ('Master' in the sense of teacher, this is nothing like a traditional academic masters degree.)

http://www.iltk.it/mp/en/on-line/index.html

The format seems to be the Tibetan medieval-university-style of education, in which students study a small number of traditional "root texts" very intensively, line by line, along with the whole Tibetan commentarial apparatus that's grown up around them.

This 13-year sequence might be the closest thing to a traditional geshe degree that's available by DL, and at a very reasonable price, too.