Purdue/edX - New Masters in Mechanical Engineering

LINK

 

"support from Kaplan Higher Education," so the degree possibly reading as "Purdue University Global?"

 

Possibly. They're running a balancing act and will eventually have to either embrace two tiers of degrees or eliminate the distinction.

 

"Students in the program take the same classes, taught by the same faculty, as on-campus students in Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering."

This sentence is important. The online students have access to the same exact classes taught by the same esteemed faculty as those on campus. This degree will not be from Purdue University Global.

Purdue would not promote the fact that their engineering programs were so highly ranked were it not being offered by the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University.

 

While it's not perfectly clear, the announcement says this

"In 2019, Purdue’s College of Engineering and Purdue Online, the central organization guiding Purdue online offerings, worked with online education provider edX and Kaplan Higher Education to offer an affordable master’s in electrical and computer engineering. The partners have developed unique online tools such as virtual labs and assessment strategies. Another program for civil engineering is in the planning stages.

“Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering joins Electrical and Computer Engineering to offer an online master’s degree that is truly excellent and exceptionally affordable,” said Mark Lundstrom, Purdue acting dean of engineering."

It's important to point out that Purdue Online pre-existed Purdue Global and continues to be separate.