IBL News | New York
CUNY (The City University of New York), the nation’s largest urban public university, announced this month that it will invest $8 million in federal stimulus funds to develop CUNY Online, a new initiative meant to produce high-quality online courses and programs through its 25 campuses.
The goal is to launch seven to ten new online associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degree programs by Spring 2023, and complete a total of 13 to 20 new programs by Fall 2023.
The initiative will be led by the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS), which runs more than three dozen online programs. CUNY Online will also serve as the primary portal for the promotion and enrollment of online programs.
CUNY Online will offer dedicated instructional designers, production staff, and project managers to support academic content development, course design, and delivery effectiveness. It will also provide student support services, including tech support, expanded tutoring, and early access to cutting-edge technologies.
Currently, the institution is vetting applications.
“The shift to online instruction that took place during the pandemic demonstrated the great promise of technology to help us meet students quite literally where they live, but course materials need to be optimized, and best practices incorporated, to realize the full potential of these tools,” explained CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodríguez, in a statement this month.
Credits on courses that are transferable across all campuses.
“With CUNY Online, the university has made a forward-thinking investment in online education to ensure that all CUNY colleges may be able to offer more flexible and accessible online learning opportunities. We look forward to bringing our 15-plus years of online expertise to CUNY Online and therefore other campuses within the CUNY community,” said CUNY SPS Interim Dean Jorge Silva-Puras.
CUNY Online is the latest online initiative developed by the University with the help of CUNY SPS. In Spring 2020, CUNY SPS created an award-winning series of workshops in online instruction that drew 3,400 faculty members from across all CUNY campuses as they transitioned to online teaching and learning during the pandemic.
CUNY SPS offers 24 degrees and numerous non-degree and grant-funded workplace learning programs and has been nationally recognized as a leader in the growing online education space.
For the second year in a row, CUNY SPS has been named in the top 10 of U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 list of Best Online Bachelor’s Programs nationwide. The publisher also ranked the school’s B.A. in Psychology No. 2 in the nation on the list of Best Online Bachelor’s Programs in Psychology, out of 55 schools reviewed.
In a new entry for CUNY SPS, the B.A. in Business was ranked No. 30 in the nation on the list of Best Online Bachelor’s Programs in Business, out of 228 institutions assessed. The school was also No. 5 for Best Online Bachelor’s for Veterans.
Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges, and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving over 260,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 55,000 degrees each year.
