The Ivy league of DL degrees

Excellent comments! I have been edified by this whole thread.

The target audience of fully virtual institutions (at least those in the U.S.), such as Capella, Walden, Northcentral, Jones International, TUI, etc., has been, by and large, the mid-career adult learner. The emphases, priorities, resources and culture of these institutions are far removed from that of the Ivys, so to find an "Ivy DL" university is an unlikely quest.

I tend to lean towards those who wish to identify exemplary online programs within collegs and universities.

 

I nominate Thunderbird School of Management. At least it's priced like an Ivy League school.

Since we're nominating foreign schools, I think Durham might also fit in with the list. It is a highly-ranked UK school.

 

I may have misused the term Ivy League DL but I think BillDayson summed up what I was thinking with this quote:

"I'm looking at it in terms of individual programs. What I want to find are DL programs that can make a legitimate case for being among the best at what they do, DL programs that can compete with the better B&M programs in the same subject. Programs that, as a result, might have some prestige in their field."

There must be some DL Programs that can compete with their B&M counter parts in terms of reputation and academic standards. Otherwise why do we even take courses through DL except for the convenience factor? Great discussion by the way. I'm glad I started this thread.

 

I think that this applies to all programs, distance learning or not. Price also does not equate to quality. Prestige often comes from exclusiveness. Exclusiveness does not always mean academic merit. It may relate to non academic social matters. Exclusive wealthy schools often have better networks to project themselves, not necessarily better scholars.

The other argument is a research school or a teaching institution. They do not always equate. The best research school may not have much interest in the teaching component. Research outcomes, therefore, may not indicate a good "educational" institution.

 

The most widely recognized US graduate school rankings, by US News and World Report, currently rank Johns Hopkins University as the #1 School of Public Health in the US (ahead of such institutions as Harvard, Columbia, and Berkeley).

JHU offers its Master's of Public Health degree through both traditional and distance programs. I don't think there is any doubt that a JHU MPH degree, whether B&M or DL, is one of the very best MPH degrees available in the US (or world). On the other hand, you could question whether it is "true" DL, because some residency is required:

But the "what is DL?" question is another can of worms.

 

Appears to be a list of highly ranked schools that happen to have DL programs. If a DL program gains top tier status primarily due to the general ranking of the B&M school it is associated with, then the game is over and the list is easy to assemble.

 

I nominate Embry-Riddle University. ERU is a fine school with an expansive set of DL programs.

 

Ahh but which of your schools offer 100% DL degrees!