University of Massachusetts

The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The system includes four universities, a medical school, and a satellite campus,with system administration in Boston and Shrewsbury.The system is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and across its campuses enrolls 73,000 students.

The UMass system is ranked 57th in the World in 2015 for its Innovative Achievements according to Reuters and was ranked 91-100 in the world by reputation in 2015 by Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

In 2012, the state of Massachusetts introduced $607 million in new bond funding to advance high-quality instructional and research facility projects throughout the UMass system.In 2012, research expenditures for the UMass system were close to $600 million.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is the flagship and largest school in the UMass system. It was also the first one established, dating back to 1863, when it was founded as the Massachusetts Agricultural College. The University of Massachusetts Medical School was founded in 1962, and is located in Worcester. The University of Massachusetts Boston, originally established in 1964, was merged with Boston State College in 1982. In 1991, the University of Lowell and Southeastern Massachusetts University joined the system as the University of Massachusetts Lowell and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, respectively.

In 2014, the state of Massachusetts gave $5.2 million to the Springfield satellite center to allow the university to complete construction and buy furnishings.The satellite center, administered by the Amherst campus, opened in March 2014, registering students for September 2014.Programs include nursing, education, business administration, addiction counseling, and GED classes.

University of Massachusetts Intercampus Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology is a graduate degree program offering Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy and Professional Science Master's Degree.The graduates receive a joint degree from all four of the main UMass campuses.

The University of Massachusetts is governed by a lay Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees functions as a legislative body dealing mainly with questions of policy. The Board is not an administrative or management board. In certain rare instances when required by the Massachusetts General Laws, it may function as an appeal body. The Board establishes the general policies governing the University, but has delegated many powers to the President and, through the President, to campus administrators for day-to-day-operations.

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Penn State World Campus

Penn State World Campus or "Penn State Online" is the online campus of The Pennsylvania State University. Launched in 1998, the World Campus grew out of the University's long and distinguished history in distance education that began in 1892. The mission of the World Campus is to extend Penn State's undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs to learners who cannot attend another Penn State campus because of geography or life factors. The World Campus currently offers more than 120 online undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs in partnership with Penn State academic units, with additional programs being added to the curriculum on a continuing basis.World Campus offices and a major part of its technical infrastructure are located in the Outreach Building at Innovation Park on the University Park Campus.

Penn State started offering distance education courses in 1892, when it launched one of the nation's first correspondence study programs to farmers around Pennsylvania. More than one hundred years later, in 1998, the University reaffirmed its commitment to providing accessible learning to all who need it with the launching of its World Campus.

The World Campus uses multiple technologies to make some of Penn State's most highly regarded graduate, undergraduate, and continuing professional education programs available anytime, anywhere through the world wide web, computer interfacing, and other media.

Penn State World Campus offers undergraduate and graduate degrees online. Students must be accepted into the appropriate College for their chosen major after the initial acceptance into World Campus. For instance, a student wanting to major in Information Sciences and Technology must be accepted by the College of Information Sciences and Technology located at Penn State's University Park campus. The online courses are taught by the same faculty on campus and the required coursework is the same for both on campus and World Campus students. After graduating, World Campus students earn the same exact degree as University Park campus students and attend the same graduation ceremony.

Some World Campus courses require students to take proctored exams at locally approved educational institutes. Additionally, some courses require assignments to be completed in a live setting on webcam to ensure that the actual student is completing the assigned work. For instance, foreign language courses require video recordings of students conversing among their classmates in a live video conference in order to earn credit for oral exams. Such measures help maintain the academic integrity of the university's online courses.

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