Ivy League Colleges Still Offer a Few Online Degrees to “Protect their Reputation”

IBL News | New York

Ivy League universities continue showing reticence to online learning, despite unprecedented growth of remote learning nationwide due to the pandemic. In terms of online degree programs, this elite group of colleges only offers about two dozen of them.

Author Robert Ubell explains that the Ivies fear that digital teaching will damage their centuries-long accumulated prestige. In their risk-averse, they believe their traditional pedagogy is the finest with no other approach coming close, especially not online.

In an article on EdSurge, Robert Ubell — Vice Dean Emeritus of Online Learning at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, columnist, and author of the essay Going Online: Perspectives on Digital Learning — writes that “nothing can topple their exalted position at the pinnacle of the academic world, least of all online students clacking away on keyboards far from campus.”

In addition, Ivy League colleges now offer over 450 MOOC-style courses.

“Donors—who have made the Ivies astonishingly wealthy, now with combined endowments totaling more than $140 billion—are highly unlikely to stop giving if their alma maters go online more aggressively,” said Robert Ubell.

Currently, these are the online degree programs by Ivy League universities:

Brown University Master of Science in Cybersecurity

Master’s in Technology Leadership

Master’s in Healthcare Leadership

Columbia University Columbia Video Network offers master’s in applied mathematics, applied physics; computer science; operations research; biomedical, chemical, civil, earth and environmental, industrial, and mechanical engineering; and materials science and engineering.

Master’s in Social Work

Cornell University Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering

Master of Engineering in Engineering Management Executive

Master’s in Human Resources Management

Dartmouth College Master’s in Healthcare Delivery Science

Master’s in Public Health

Harvard University Master’s in Educational Leadership
University of Pennsylvania Bachelor of Applied Arts & Sciences

Master of Computer Information Technology (co-hosted with Coursera)

Master of Healthcare Innovation

Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership

Master of Science in Animal Welfare and Behavior

Doctorate in Clinical Social Work

Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice

Princeton University None offered
Yale University Physician Assistant Online

Executive Master of Public Health

Doctor of Nursing Practice