January 8, 2018
To: Oregon State University Faculty and Staff
From: Edward Feser, Provost and Executive Vice President
Dear OSU faculty and staff,
I am writing to relay the good news of Oregon State University’s newly released ranking as the nation’s sixth best provider of online bachelor’s degree programs, according to U.S. News & World Report.
This national acclaim is the result of the innovation, quality teaching and leadership from Ecampus staff and more than 700 OSU faculty members in 10 academic colleges, who collaborate to deliver more than 1,100 classes and programs online. I am grateful to all involved for their role in making Ecampus such a success.
This is the fourth year in a row that Oregon State Ecampus ranks in the top 10 of more than 350 higher education institutions nationally. Last year, we were ranked eighth by the U.S. News & World Report methodology, which takes into consideration student engagement, faculty credentials and training, student services and technology and peer reputation. This year again, Ecampus scored especially well in the faculty credentials and training category, earning a score of 94 out of 100.
The full rankings are available online at http://www.usnews.com/online-education.
OSU’s work in online education is an essential part of the university’s land grant mission to provide access to a high-quality education for all Oregonians. We do this work at our campuses in Corvallis and Bend, in programs offered through the Division of Outreach and Engagement, and increasingly through classes and nearly 50 online undergraduate and graduate academic degree programs. Thanks to Ecampus, we are not only teaching Oregonians, but also online learners in all 50 states and more than 50 countries.
In the 2016-17 academic year, 21,400 Oregon State students took at least one Ecampus class. This fall, 6,087 students were enrolled at OSU exclusively in online degree programs, an increase of 6.6 percent from a year ago.
Here are but three examples of online teaching excellence:
- OSU offers biology courses that effectively put a microscope in the hands of every distance learner. Believed to be the first virtual microscope of its kind, this academic breakthrough is the result of a partnership between Ecampus’ course development team, OSU’s Department of Integrative Biology and the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.
- We were the first university in the nation to offer a fisheries and wildlife sciences degree online, enabling one of OSU’s core areas of research impact and knowledge to be shared with a worldwide audience.
- Trailblazing efforts in the College of Liberal Arts have produced fully online bachelor’s programs in German, Spanish and French in the last four years.
I look forward to supporting and celebrating other examples of teaching excellence at each of our campuses and online.
Congratulations and thank you for your role in the U.S. News & World Report recognition received today, and for all that you do to serve Oregon State’s mission of excellence in teaching, research, outreach and engagement.
Sincerely,
Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President