World-Class Education, Online
US C : T H E U NM ATC HED L EA D ER I N ONL I NE GR A D UAT E D EGR EE PROGR A M S / iii
USC’s Online Education Programs P O I N T S OF DIS TINC TION
$110 MILLION IN TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUE
80 graduate degree and certificate programs
7,700 students and rapidly growing
40 YEARS AGO USC’s Distance Education Network (DEN), at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, pioneered the path for online education.
TODAY, USC HAS:
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online computer information technology program online course offerings each semester through DEN
4,000
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online MPA at a top-10 school
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online gerontology degree
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online MSW at a top-12 school
TOP RANKED
online graduate engineering program
partnering institutions participating in USC Rossier School of Education's online MAT program
FIVE YEARS FROM NOW USC plans to double online enrollment
Leadership in
Online Learning USC has been connecting remote learners with the university’s dynamic curriculum and stellar faculty since 1972—before the World Wide Web even existed. Today USC still leads in the use of digital and immersive media technologies to enable the brightest students to access the highest level of graduate instruction, no matter where they are. The total annual revenues for USC’s online professional, graduate and continuing education programs are estimated at $110 million for 2013—a figure unprecedented for a top American research university. Indeed, a number of peer institutions are studying and attempting to duplicate USC’s online education business model, which strategically builds upon the historic role of the traditional university while incorporating the advances made possible by the digital age. USC currently offers 80 programs online to more than 7,700 graduate and executive education students, and these offerings are growing all the time.
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USC has developed an online graduate
education enterprise that features academic breadth and economic viability. It is a model that expands educational access globally, while maintaining all-important standards of academic rigor and quality. C. L. Max Nikias / USC President
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Uncompromising
Approach
USC’s approach to distance learning remains unique. At the graduate level, each USC online learning program is developed to meet the specific educational requirements of the academic discipline, the high standards of the university and society’s need for advanced professionals. While all of our online courses offer convenience and flexibility, many courses also integrate virtual discussions with faculty and fellow classmates in real time. USC’s approach to distance learning remains unique. While our faculty have eagerly explored and experimented with graduate education models that extend our reach while maintaining the strictest standards and quality of a USC degree, the university is steadfastly committed to ensuring that the distinctive undergraduate educational experience remains centered on our physical campuses. It will be enhanced by technology but never replaced by it.
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USC’s online enterprise is the
world’s first online education model that is both academically and financially viable.
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Warren Bennis / USC University Professor and a renowned expert on leadership, as quoted in Businessweek
USC’s Online
Education Strategy PR I N C I PL ES AN D PRIORITIES
A key tenet of USC’s online learning programs is maintaining the academic rigor, integrity and quality of a USC education.
▪ USC’s focus is on master’s and graduate degree programs, along with executive and continuing education. It is at these levels that top research universities have a meaningful role to play in the online education revolution. ▪ Online programs must preserve academic rigor, integrity and excellence above all other considerations. No two-tier curricular approaches are utilized, and the online courses feature the same high caliber of faculty as the classroom versions. All programs must ensure integrity in testing and learning assessment.
▪ Online degree programs use the same high academic standards USC has always used for admission into on-campus programs and charge the same tuition rates. Other universities are increasingly offering online courses for free, with scant concern for whether enrollees ever complete a course. Our goal, by contrast, is to ensure that the educational experience is reserved for only those students with the requisite interest and ability to meet USC’s high expectations. ▪ While partnering with outside education entities, our faculty and schools retain sole responsibility for ensuring academic quality. External organizations have helped our faculty develop and deliver state-of-the-art,
highly interactive learning experiences that have won praise from our remote students. School and university curriculum faculty committees directly assess the rigor of such programs, as they do with traditional on-campus graduate programs. ▪ USC does not offer online degrees at the undergraduate level. The years between 17 and 22, which coincide with the traditional undergraduate experience, represent a corridor of transformation, where much of a student’s identity and many of her lifelong affiliations are formed. Face-to-face intellectual and creative encounters, inside and outside the classroom, provide the greatest impact.
Immersion EXP E R I E N C E S IN THE PROF ES S ION S, C O N C E N T R AT ED COHORTS
For professional degrees where a field placement, a shortterm residency or a hands-on practicum is either required or beneficial, USC has established innovative experiential programs and partnerships across the nation to support students in broadening their skills and knowledge. A F E W E X AM PLES : ▪ Master of Arts in Teaching online program candidates can be placed in more than 4,000 schools within 1,500 school districts to complete their 20 weeks of student teaching.
▪ Executive Master of Health Administration candidates participate in two weeklong in-residence programs during which they interact with each other and with national healthcare leaders.
▪ As part of the MSW@USC program, the Master of Social Work staff finds field internships for all students in their local communities, all over the U.S.
▪ USC’s Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) program requires students to complete fieldwork. Candidates come to the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Catalina Island for a weeklong experiential program, offered nine times during the year.
▪ Students in the Master of Academic Medicine program spend seven days together each spring, while Master of Public Health students complete a capstone practicum in the field.
7 AM California
The Global
Classroom
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E D U CAT I ON W ITHOUT B ORD ERS, IN REA L T IME
aving been a national leader in distance H learning (DEN@Viterbi) for the past 40 years—from television to satellite to Internet delivery—we are now reimagining the classroom itself through iPodia.
Yannis C. Yortsos / Dean, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
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4 PM Germany
11 PM China
12 PM Korea
5 PM Israel 8:30 PM India
Ranked by U.S. News and World Report among the top ranked online programs in both graduate engineering and computer information technology, USC Viterbi enables working engineers to meet their educational goals from anywhere in the world. Launched in 1972 to support the needs of both government and industry, the Distance Education Network (DEN@Viterbi) helped pioneer the concept of distance learning. Today, DEN@Viterbi defines the vanguard of technology and educational excellence, offering more than 40 master’s degree programs as well as numerous graduate certificates and noncredit
11 PM Taiwan
courses for professional advancement, all taught by Viterbi’s award-winning faculty. The Viterbi School continues to innovate through iPodia™, its patented educational system promoting peer-to-peer interactions across disciplinary, institutional, physical and cultural boundaries. Using immersive videoconferencing, students from select engineering schools around the world create a “classroom without borders” that meets in real time to focus on solving problems in a global context. Partners in iPodia’s network already include: • Peking University • The Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology • National Taiwan University • The Indian Institute of Technology • The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology • Germany’s RWTH Aachen University More schools are joining the network in places like Brazil, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.
Transforming
Teaching
Ranked among the top 20 graduate schools of education by U.S. News and World Report, the USC Rossier School of Education features the nation’s fastest-growing online teacher preparation program. USC Rossier combines face-to-face class sessions, self-paced coursework and field-based teaching assignments to foster a truly collaborative and engaging online learning experience for teachers across the country and around the world. The need for more and better-qualified teachers has never been greater. USC Rossier’s online programs further the school’s mission of improving learning in urban schools locally, nationally and globally by increasing the number of well-prepared teachers and giving them the support they need to succeed. In addition to providing intimate, interactive instruction, the school pairs students with K-12 classrooms wherever they live. From their first day in the program, these students gain direct teaching experience in local classrooms. They film their teaching experiences and then review the videos with their classmates and instructor online. Even after they graduate, our alumni continue to be connected with USC Rossier and with each other through the USC network.
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Gone are the days when students need to crisscross a college campus to receive the highest quality education. Online technology is at the precipice of providing unprecedented, widespread access to quality higher education.
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Karen Simms Gallagher / Dean, USC Rossier School of Education
USC’s Online
Degree Programs US C PL A N S TO D OUB LE ON LIN E E N RO L L M EN T OV ER THE N EX T FIVE YEARS
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Master of Science in Geographic Information Science and Technology Master of Science in Applied Psychology Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science and Technology
USC Marshall School of Business Master of Business Taxation Master of Management in Library and Information Science
Master of Science in Global Supply Chain Management
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Master of Communication Management
Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC Master of Science in Geriatric Dentistry Master of Science in Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine
USC Rossier School of Education Master of Arts in Teaching Master of Arts in Teaching— Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Master of Education in Advanced Instruction Master of Education in School Leadership Global Executive Doctorate of Education
USC Viterbi School of Engineering Master of Science in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Aerospace Engineering Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (Computational Fluid and Solid Mechanics) Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (Dynamics and Control) Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engineering (Energy Conversion) Mechanical Engineering (Nuclear Power) Product Development Engineering Master of Science in Astronautical Engineering Graduate Certificate in Astronautical Engineering Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering Biomedical Engineering Biomedical Engineering (Medical Imaging and Imaging Informatics) Medical Device and Diagnostic Imaging Master of Science in Chemical, Materials and Petroleum Engineering
Chemical Engineering Materials Engineering Petroleum Engineering Petroleum Engineering (Geoscience Technologies) Petroleum Engineering (Smart Oilfield Technologies) Graduate Certificate in Smart Oilfield Technologies Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering Civil Engineering (Construction Engineering) Civil Engineering (Structural Engineering) Civil Engineering (Transportation Systems) Civil Engineering (Water and Waste Management) Construction Management Environmental Engineering Master of Science in Computer Science Computer Science Computer Science (Computer Security) Computer Science (Multimedia and Creative Technologies) Computer Science (Software Engineering) Graduate Certificate in Software Architecture
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering Computer Engineering Electrical Engineering Electrical Engineering (Computer Networks) Electrical Engineering (Electric Power) Electrical Engineering (Multimedia and Creative Technologies) Electrical Engineering (Telecommunications) Electrical Engineering (VLSI Design) Master of Science in Financial Engineering Master of Science in Green Technologies Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering Engineering Management Health Systems Management Engineering Industrial and Systems Engineering Operations Research Engineering Systems Architecting and Engineering Product Development Engineering Graduate Certificate in Network Centric Systems Graduate Certificate in Systems Architecting and Engineering
All USC schools will offer graduate degree or professional certificate online courses within the next five years.
USC Davis School of Gerontology
USC School of Pharmacy
USC Price School of Public Policy
Master of Aging Services Management
Master in Regulatory Science
Master of Public Administration
Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research Design and Management
Executive Master of Health Administration
Master of Arts in Gerontology Master of Long Term Care Administration Master of Science in Gerontology Graduate Certificate in Gerontology
Keck School of Medicine of USC Master of Academic Medicine Master of Public Health
Graduate Certificate in Food Safety Graduate Certificate in Patient and Product Safety Graduate Certificate in Preclinical Drug Development Graduate Certificate in Regulatory and Clinical Affairs
USC School of Social Work Master of Social Work Plus specialized programs in Community Organization, Planning and Administration; Families and Children; Health; Mental Health; Military Social Work and Veteran Services; School Settings; and Social Work and Business in a Global Society
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Our online degree programs are thriving. They are held to USC’s highest standards. We think of them as part of our programs, not a separate set of online programs
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Elizabeth Garrett / USC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
For more information about USC’s online education programs, please contact us at: phone: 213.821.5699 | email: online@usc.edu | web: online.usc.edu