North Carolina Wesleyan College to Become University

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Tireman 44444, May 11, 2022.

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  1. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    This is my undergraduate alma mater, class of 1993. I actually liked the fact they were a college, but I suppose the trend...( I am still not sure how I feel about it)

    ROCKY MOUNT, NORTH CAROLINA – On Friday, April 22 in a historic move, the North Carolina Wesleyan University Board of Trustees announced plans for the College to become North Carolina Wesleyan University. Since 2015, the College has been moving in this direction with the addition of its first two master’s programs, a key component of being considered a university.

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    “The evolution of NC Wesleyan from a college to a university represents the culmination of the excellent work of many dedicated people over previous years and the commitment of the current administration, faculty, staff and Board of Trustees in expanding the institutional offerings to its students for research, as well as career development,” stated Dr. Dan Crocker, Chairman of the NC Wesleyan Board of Trustees. “The impact of this effort on the students and the area will be tremendous.”

    Some of the criteria that were considered when changing the name to “university” included: serving adult students, offering professional programs, offering graduate programs, serving a large percentage of international students and having multiple instructional locations. Despite this update to Wesleyan’s name, its values will remain the same:

    North Carolina Wesleyan University to Become University - NCWU (ncwc.edu)
     
  2. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Did somebody's Find and Replace accidentally replace the word college in the headline? "North Carolina Wesleyan University to Become University"
     
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  3. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I thought BECOME UNIVERSITY is its new name. :D
     
  4. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    Not sure. They still have college on many things on their website. It is a hodgepodge of both, hence that it is why I sent a tweet to them. This is what I got. Very odd.
     
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  5. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I applied there but wasn't selected for an interview. I think it's in a great location to get to DMV, PA, and NY.
     
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  6. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    I absolutely loved my 4 years there( 1988 to 1992, they did not have December graduations like they do now, so I had to walk in May 1993) . I was a commuter student, but was able to take in all a small college had to offer. It was small back then, 1500 students on the main campus. They were just experimenting with the Adult Degree Program in Raleigh and Greenville.
     
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  7. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I've never heard anyone in any situation where they were in a position to draw an assessment of someone's credentials give any weight--positive or negative--to the degree in question because of the name of the school. Ever.

    That said, my research at Union indicated that the name of the school can have some weight, mostly when the school evokes geography or "state" status in its name.

    College or university? I don't think it matters one little bit. And as I mentioned in another thread, I liked my own school's (Union's) old name--The Union Institute--far more than its current name (Union Institute and University). Ugh.
     
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  8. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member

    It does outside the US
     
  9. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Makes sense to me. One of my dissertation committee members shared this when I was trying to decide between two recent job offers. One was a smaller private Catholic university (master's comprehensive, D3 athletics), and the other was a more prominent public university (R2, D1 athletics) with both geography and state in the name.
     
  10. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Please explain how this is.
     
  11. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I think this was explicitly in reference to the line "College or university? I don't think it matters one little bit"

    In Canada for example, until recently colleges awarded only Certificates (lasting 1 year), Diplomas (lasting 2 years) and Advanced Diplomas (lasting 3 years.)

    Now that they can award 3 and 4 year Bachelor's degrees, those degrees are never a Bachelor of Arts or Science. It's always a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Professional Arts, or similar.

    Transfer credit is often limited to a fraction of the earned time. For example a 2 year diploma will get you 1 year transfer credit towards a 4-year degree, a 3-year advanced diploma will get you 1.5 years.

    So Canadians do make the distinction between attending a college and attending a university.
     
  12. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    This is true in many countries, often where the term "college" refers to a non-degree-granting tertiary institution.

    If that more narrow point was being made by that poster, fine. Full agreement there. But I was thinking about the bigger notion of weird school names in general.
     
  13. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member

    This is what I was referring to. A college in a university is one thing, as someone is attending university but attending just a college does not imply an academic university degree. This is also in most places internationally.

    The US is somewhat unique in using the word college in the manner it is. Even in casual terms, much of the world will say "I'm in university, or going to uni" where if they said " in college" the assumption would be most likely a trade training program.

    I am considering a EdD, and the school that most interests me program wise is South College. But the name has me looking closer at other options. I am not a "brand" snob at all, far from it (TESU and HAU) but the lack of the word university in the name I do feel devalues the degree more than ranking in an international context. I am Canadian, currently in states but other countries as well, and will again. (As in a few months from now)
     
  14. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member

    From an international perspective, this is another quirk of higher education in the states. Very good advice including the sports aspect for what carries more weight reputation wise in US. Most of the world would care less about how a university sports team does for the reputation of the degree or brand of the university. In fact, the US obsession with college sports just makes no sense to most outside the states. It's perceived as a negative of the US higher education system.

    Here in states, it's almost everything, if not an IVY, the next best thing is a D1 for getting a degree that will get you hired.
     
  15. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I think almost everyone in the U.S. says "I am going to college" or "I'm in college," even if it's a university.

    In Jamaica, we have high schools that use "college." For example, Clarendon College, Kingston College, Jamaica College, Cornwall College, Monro College, and the list goes on. We also have several degree-granting institutions with the word college. Examples: Shortwood Teachers' College (no worries, they won't check if it's short... HAHA), Bethlehem Moravian College, College of Agriculture, Science, and Education (CASE), Moneague College, and Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Then, there are also the University Colleges, such as the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (formerly University College of the Caribbean) and Hydel University College.
     
  16. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member

    Yes, there are some college only degree granting places internationally, but more the exception than the norm. College's as part of a university is common as well, which is also what Harvard has. They are sorta departments sometimes, sometimes a stand alone entity in a partnership with a university (Thornelow College and Laurentian University in Canada for instance)

    In a general sense, University carries more weight internationally than college, but some colleges only are well recognized as superb schools.

    Yes, I am aware everyone in the states say "I am in college, I went to college etc) and in most of the world that is heard quite differently than what the American saying it thinks it means.
     
  17. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    The first was Harvard College. If they could do it....
     
  18. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member

    And Harvard University has 11 schools, often called colleges within it. The school of liberal arts is still referred to as Havard College. The exact legal structure I am unsure and not interested enough to look up.
     
  19. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I encountered several Australians who were a little offended when I asked them if they go to college or how is their college studies. They feel that College is lower level than Uni (University). Usually, the answer is, I don't go to college, but I go to Uni. This is the same as the term "pupil" and "student." I rarely see any Americans use the term "pupil."
     

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