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>>Theresa Bierer: The Arizona Universities Network or AZUN is a collaboration lead by
NAU where students can take classes online from the UofA, ASU and Northern Arizona University.
It's an online campus with a primary purpose of serving the higher education needs of Arizonans.
AZUN makes it easy for students to sign up for college classes even if they're not sure
which of the three state universities they want to attend.
>>Fred Hurst: But for some students that one stop shopping is a great benefit and I think
that that's really the future is drawing students in who aren't quite sure what they want, but
know they want a college education and this is a way of drawing them in and getting them
to one of the three institutions which is the bottom line.
>>Bierer: Students will graduate with a degree from NAU, ASU or the University of Arizona.
And the AZUN website makes it easy to start the process.
>>Amanda Kapp: We are also hoping to use the site as a recruitment tool, so students who
are looking to take classes maybe a distance learning program can see all the offerings
throughout the state at one site. >>Bierer: AZUN staff members are available
to help students with their higher education needs. Staff can also help with paperwork
and transferring credit. >>Dorothy Machula: And with AZUN that network
takes care of all that for the student, the student is able to take their major courses
at their home university but also diversify with the other two universities and have AZUN
take care of all the paperwork in terms of allowing them to be a guest student at that
university and being online with students from those other two universities and having
that experience added to their education. >>Bierer: AZUN was started six years ago back
then it was called the Arizona Regents University and had just a handful of degree programs.
Now there are more than 70 with NAU providing a large portion of the classes.
>>Hurst: I think that the difference that I see in the three institutions is that ASU
and UofA look towards niche programs for the most part. They may pick of the ones they
want most to provide. NAU has always looked at it from a student services perspective,
we try to offer a breadth of different programs to the students across the state that we don't
believe either of the other institutions will provide in the near future.
>>Bierer: AZUN is looking to provide new programs identified by the Arizona Board of Regents
as high priority like fire science, law enforcement and nursing. With some of the programs geared
towards people already established in a career who need or want more education. Meanwhile
people are working to make sure registration for summer school and fall classes continues
to run smoothly and looking for ways to make the website, AZUN.org, even more student friendly.
>>Karen Hallberg: I'm Karen Hallberg coordinator of the Suzuki program at Northern Arizona
University and you're watching Inside NAU.