Through BYU–Pathway, BYU–Idaho and Ensign College to Offer Three-year Degrees online Sep 1, 2023 “Beginning in April 2024, BYU–Idaho and Ensign College, with the support of BYU–Pathway Worldwide, will offer 90–96 credit degrees that will allow students to complete an online bachelor’s degree in three years. The new degrees, approved by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, preserve all required major and general education courses while eliminating elective credits. BYU–Idaho, Ensign College and BYU–Pathway Worldwide are part of the Church Educational System (CES) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. CES continually seeks to make higher education more accessible to a diverse worldwide audience.” https://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/news/local/through-byu-pathway-byu-idaho-and-ensign-college-to-offer-three-year-degrees-online/article_c5a39198-48ed-11ee-90dd-eb60d96b487c.html The First 3-Year Degree Programs Win Approval September 01, 2023 “BYU-Idaho and Ensign College will launch truncated bachelor’s degree programs next spring after getting the go-ahead from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Three-year bachelor’s degrees are coming to Brigham Young University–Idaho and affiliated Ensign College next year, following approval of the truncated programs by an accrediting body. By eliminating electives, BYU-Idaho will bring five three-year programs online in April: applied business management, family and human services, software development, applied health, and professional studies. Ensign will offer two such programs: communication and information technology. Both institutions are owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and operated by the Church Educational System. The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities approved the seven programs—each of which requires between 90 and 94 credit hours instead of the standard 120—at its June meeting and sent a formal approval letter late last month.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/academic-programs/2023/09/01/first-three-year-degree-programs-win-accreditor-approval The Push for a 3-Year Bachelor’s Degree April 07, 2023 ”Unlike the other three-year options that exist on the market, their proposal isn’t focused on accelerating bachelor’s degree programs but rather redesigning them to fit within three years. That means cutting off chunks of credits and building a tightly packaged curriculum with all the essentials. While the standard bachelor’s program is 120 credit hours, their proposals require 90 to 100 credits. “The four-year degree isn’t working for a lot of people,” Lori Carrell, the chancellor of the University of Minnesota at Rochester, told her colleagues around the table, noting higher education’s high cost and low degree attainment, which has “squandered human potential at times.” The institutions with pilot programs are the American Public University system, Brigham Young University Idaho, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Merrimack College, New England College, Northwood University, Portland State University, the University of Minnesota at Morris, the University of Minnesota at Rochester, the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and Utica University. Together they represent a diverse mix of public and private colleges ranging in geography, demographics and program ambitions. All 12 pilot programs are in different stages of progress. Some institutions, like Georgetown, are only beginning to explore the idea. Others, like Merrimack College and BYU Idaho, have developed ready-to-launch proposals that they hope their respective accreditors will approve. And other institutions have dropped out along the way, shrinking the pilot pool from 14 to 12.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/04/07/can-three-year-bachelors-degree-become-reality
That’s closer to the Oxbridge approach I think. It depends on the student having a good general background from High School. I did my own B.A. in seven semesters and had I been more aggressive about it I could have sliced it down to six I think.
I throught that instead of cutting off electives and Area of Study, why not cutting filler subjects like WGU or the UK universities do instead? Will University become an extension of High School and will you need a Masters to find a Job? How are Graduate programs going to accept someone with only 90-ish credits of mostly "General Education/Common Core"?
I did mine in 18 months. The real issue is whether or not these are 'degrees' in the U.S. sense. The U.S. has always had a liberal arts basis for its college degrees and this cuts into that. As noted above, the presumption in the UK, for example, is that one has already been well-grounded in those subjects by high school. I don't think that's a good assumption for U.S. students. Proof? The AP classes and exams. They're a good way to get some or all of that first year done before entering college. But what percentage of students do that? (I passed some AP exams for credit without taking the classes; hard, but not impossible.) I'd like to see that model leveraged more, rather than just do away with a year of liberal arts and sciences dropped.
The problem is that this is not really cutting the Liberal Arts part, it seems to cut your area of Study to only like 3-5 courses or so...
Plenty of degree plans out there with 30 credits of “free electives”. 45 credits Gen Ed, including preparation for your major; 45 credits in your major, done? I can see it working. But will grad schools with language against 3 year degrees accept them? Given these are coming from RA schools and not foreign credential evaluators? Who knows?
