Concerning article on WaPo ft. Plotted Path, College Hacked, UMPI, WGU and Purdue Global
Students are speeding through their online degrees in weeks, alarming educators (MSN link due to WaPo's paywall)
One particularly concerning part:
>The head of the New England Commission of Higher Education, which oversees the accreditation of the University of Maine system, told The Washington Post that he had never heard of students completing a bachelor’s degree in only a few months — either at the Presque Isle campus or any other accredited university. He said that is something his organization may decide to investigate.
>“If students are getting a baccalaureate degree in a few months, the commission could certainly inquire, ‘Is there integrity to the degree to be awarded?’” said Larry Schall, president of the commission. (Shortly after Schall got off the phone with The Post, he said, he called the campus to ask them to look into the issue.)
WGU is also discussed:
>Some users on a Reddit forum for Western Governors have pleaded with peers to stop bragging that they earned degrees in weeks or months.
As is Purdue Global:
>In January, Purdue Global stopped students from taking an unlimited amount of classes in a term without permission in its ExcelTrack program, citing concerns about “academic integrity and the value of a Purdue Global degree.” ... “ExcelTrack is an accelerated degree program, but it was never intended to be a six-month degree,” Purdue Global spokeswoman Amy Hawkinson said in an email.
Are things pointing to the beginning of the decline of accelerated degrees?