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I'm pleased to talk with you today about the Cal State Online initiative.
You know,
I've been interested in trying to do this
for more than twelve years.
When I first came to see the CSU
we put in place Cal State Teach which was an online program
for elementary school teachers.
Cal State Online is a new initiative
that was established by a group of campus presidents working
on our CSU Technology Steering Committee
as a way to provide increased access
to CSU program excellence for students
needing to or preferring
to study at a distance.
The current budget climate
is making CSU admission more difficult
as most campuses in the CSU system
are receiving many more qualified applications
than they can admit,
while the number of available seats
is decreasing.
Cal State Online is a statewide initiative
designed to offset the reduction in on- campus seats by increasing access
to CSU programs that are fully online.
The Cal State Online initiative
is in alignment with the state's need to
increase college graduates.
By 2025,
California will face a shortfall of one million
college graduates
and forty one percent of all jobs in California
will require at least a bachelor's degree.
We must find new and timely ways to close this education gap
and Cal State Online is a vehicle
for making a meaningful change
in the options for bachelor's level degree programs.
In the current fiscal times
the least expensive option is to improve completion rates of CSU students
already in the four-year system.
Cal State Online will increase
completion rates
of CSU students, narrow the skills gap
and help meet the state's economic and workforce needs.
Technology is bringing transformative change
to higher education
and is enabling significant innovation
in teaching and learning opportunities worldwide.
Using technology in innovative ways allows the system
to expand capacity
by providing fully online programs
that meet the needs of the working professional
and other under-served student communities.
A priority of Cal State Online
is to provide undergraduate degree completion programs
and specifically programs focused on serving former CSU students
who have many CSU credits
but who stopped out short of graduation.
These special programs are called the CSU Reconnect Programs.
The other main focus will be
a select group of graduate program offerings targeting working adults with
at least 5 years of work experience.
The graduate programs will offer flexible scheduling,
accelerated terms,
flexible credit options and close connections between coursework
and the workplace.
I am pleased to announce that Cal State Online
is on schedule
to launch in the Spring of 2013
with several undergraduate and graduate programs. These online programs will be
taught
by CSU faculty
and will meet all accreditation standards
of the Western Association
of Schools and Colleges.
A critical component
of successful fully online degree programs
are comprehensive suites
of services designed
to support both students
and faculty.
Cal State Online has recently announced a partnership
with Pearson eCollege
to provide many of these important services.
One of the things that
I am most excited about is that Cal State Online will provide a centralized
marketing approach
so that students will receive
a central place to learn about the fully online degree program
options throughout the 23 campus system
of the CSU.
We want returning students to know that the CSU has a set of outstanding
fully online degree programs
available for students
seeking degree completion opportunities.
The goal of Cal State Online
is to offer fully online degree programs at affordable rates
so that students can access quality
academic programs from our CSU campuses,
regardless of their location.
We look forward to your participation in Cal State Online
and we'll see you there!