The University of Michigan has been named the best college in the state for its online graduate master’s programs, according to Online Master’s Colleges 2024 ranking. This data comes from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and the National Center for Education Statistics.
The University ranks number one with a 93% graduation rate. Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University are second and third place respectively.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Sarah Dysart, chief learning officer at the Center for Academic Innovation, said online enrolled students still receive the same amount of engagement with instructors as in-person students through Zoom meetings, discussion forums and online office hours.
“The rigor of the online programs is maintained by duplicating the standards as similarly as possible to those of residential programs,” Dysart said. “The standards for online and face-to-face courses are exactly the same in terms of credit, hour requirements, instructor, contact, those types of things.”
In an email to The Daily, Barb Hiltz, master of social work program director, wrote that both residential and online programs share similar employment rates and alumni experiences following graduation.
“We measure student competency related to several social work indicators for accreditation,” Hiltz wrote. “Our data is showing that our online and on-campus students are demonstrating equivalent competency upon graduation.”
Dysart said the Center for Academic Innovation constantly checks for quality assurance each academic semester to ensure the University’s standards are upheld in online programs.
“Every 10 years, we go through a re-accreditation process,” Drysart said. “That happened in 2020, most recently. Also, there are checks along the way between that 10 year period in terms of making sure that we’re engaging in the quality assurance that we need.”
Lizette Korn, managing director of the part-time MBA programs at the Ross School of Business, told The Daily that the online MBA program is just as rigorous as the school’s in-person programs.
“It’s still the same faculty,” Korn said. “So the faculty who teaches our accounting core also teaches the accounting core for the full-time MBA, and he’s done so for many years, so he has those expectations. … Nothing was made easier or downgraded because it’s an online program. You’re (still) getting a Ross MBA.”
In an email to The Daily, Business graduate student Stephen Redford wrote that despite students from both programs having the same requirements, the online program does allow for more flexibility for non-traditional students.
“This allows me and my classmates the ability to go at our own pace, some students taking three-four years, while others can work to finish in two years,” Redford wrote. “Because our live classes take place in the evenings, nearly all the students can work full-time and not have to worry about it interfering with a typical work schedule.”
Dysart said one of the best benefits of the online graduate programs is that students no longer need to pause their lives in order to further their education.
“You are not saying goodbye to the University, but instead thinking of (the University) as a place where you can continue to come back and engage in any learning experience that you need throughout your lifetime,” Dysart said. “In an era pre-online learning, that was much more challenging. You had to pause your career and come back to Ann Arbor to be able to engage in that.”
Daily Staff Reporter Emma Sulaiman can be reached at emmasul@umich.edu
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