Online Degrees and Minority Students

A recent report by Diverse Issues in Higher Education gives American InterContinental University high marks for serving minority students so well. AIU online is ranked among the top ten institutions awarding associate, undergraduate and graduate degrees across all academic disciplines in the United States.

The report also revealed that more African-Americans graduated with bachelor’s degrees in business from the university’s online campus (AIU Online) than from any other university campus in the United States during the 2005-2006 school year. In addition, the school ranked first in master’s degrees in computer and information science awarded to Hispanic-Americans and third in both bachelor’s and master’s degrees awarded to African-American for that same field.

The report also indicates that AIU online was sixth in master’s degrees across all disciplines to all minorities and seventh in bachelor’s degrees across all disciplines to African-Americans. One other piece of data that was striking was the fact the school also ranked fifth overall in awarding master’s degrees in education to minority students.

I was struck by the data particularly after the recent report that in Massachusetts significant numbers of minority teacher candidates were not passing the certification exams. I have no data indicating any connection between the two issues but it does give one pause as Massachusetts begins to study the problem.

American InterContinental University Online is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. We hope that in awarding such accreditation the CCSACS has examined the type of data that the Massachusetts report will reveal prior to its awarding accreditation to online universities. The online education concept has come a long way in recent years. However, it is imperative that schools awarding online degrees have the rigor that traditional colleges offer.

We hope that is the case. And we will be watching the Massachusetts situation carefully to see what comes of the study.