State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today announced that an additional 56 degree and certificate programs from 17 campuses will be powered by Open SUNY, the university system’s signature online learning initiative. Open SUNY will increase access, completion, and success for students while increasing SUNY’s enrollment by 100,000 students and meeting the employment needs of New York’s businesses.
Earlier this year, Stony Brook University became one of the first six SUNY campuses to offer online education through the Open SUNY program.
The new programs join those announced in Chancellor Zimpher’s 2014 State of the University Address, bringing the total to 64 Open SUNY+ programs offered by 19 campuses. A complete program list, as well as further information for prospective students, is available at open.suny.edu.
Through a comprehensive set of support services unique to Open SUNY+, online students and faculty are able to connect in the same way traditional, on-campus students and faculty connect. For students, these new support services include:
- A 24/7 HelpDesk that assists students with technical questions;
- Online academic tutoring, also available day and night;
- A personal student concierge who connects students to representatives from their home campus when needed; and
- Expanded access to applied learning opportunities that enhance student knowledge and give students a competitive edge by providing them with hands-on work experience in their field prior to graduation. SUNY is committed to providing every student with an applied learning opportunity, including all those attending exclusively online through Open SUNY.
For faculty, SUNY has established the Center for Online Teaching Excellence (COTE), a professional development community where faculty of all levels of experience in online education from across the system have an opportunity to learn more about new online teaching practices and share ideas and techniques with colleagues across SUNY. To date, more than 750 faculty from throughout the system are using the Center.
To aid in degree-planning and student completion, the Open SUNY website includes a searchable database of offerings for students, faculty, and advisers. Ultimately, SUNY will migrate its entire online portfolio to the Open SUNY+ platform.
For the first time, Open SUNY+ now includes certificate programs, as well as associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees.
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