The City University of New York could offer hundreds of fully online programs by 2030, according to the public higher education system’s strategic plan released Wednesday.
CUNY set a goal to offer 287 online certificates and degrees in the next several years for students who prefer flexible options because of their responsibilities to family or jobs, or distance from physical campuses.
If successful in that aim, the expansion would mark a seismic shift for CUNY since students returned to campus following pandemic-era school closures. In 2021, there were only 82 programs students could altogether complete online, university data show.
“The prosperity of New York and the legendary cutting-edge talent of CUNY are intertwined,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez in a statement.
“Moving forward, it is imperative that we ensure the University’s ability to meet the evolving needs of students and employers across the region.”
The virtual programs were just one prong of a full seven-year, systemwide plan to increase career opportunities, student services and research that benefits the public. The process was led by a steering committee that convened town halls and other sessions over 18 months.
CUNY plans to add 30 online degrees and certificates across 20 campuses over the next year, based in part on a market analysis of its programs finished in December. Faculty training programs and technology infrastructure are also being made available.
The public university system launched a program catalogue this spring with the options available so far.
Graduates receive “identical” diplomas to those earned by students on campus, according to the website.
Wednesday’s announcement followed a tentative contract agreement between the city and its teachers union that would similarly expand virtual learning options. The push to reach high school students who need flexibility in their class schedules, including to weeknights and weekends, comes as school systems across the country build on COVID-19’s emergency experiment in remote classes to use and improve the modality moving forward.
But the faculty union at CUNY has already raised concerns.
“We are still learning about this initiative,” Penny Lewis, secretary of the Professional Staff Congress, wrote in the union newspaper last month. “But what we do know so far has given us cause for alarm.”
Lewis said it seems “extremely likely” that a large online initiative would take time and resources away from current courses and faculty. She also noted that CUNY already offers the School of Professional Studies, which specializes in online degree programs.
“We don’t want CUNY to approach the ‘degree mill’ status to which some online programs have sunk across the country,” Lewis wrote.
The union has already filed charges with the Public Employment Relations Board, a union spokesperson confirmed, as instructional design work performed by union members would be outsourced under a nearly $8 million contract approved this spring.
University officials pegged the focus on virtual learning as a way to boost enrollment and prevent students from dropping out. The system set lofty goals to enroll 150,000 undergraduate students at senior colleges — a nearly 16% increase since last fall — and 80,000 or 18% more students at community colleges within the next several years.
Rodríguez said the strategic plan will allow CUNY to “leverage the rapid changes of the higher education landscape while continuing to reflect the ideals upon which CUNY was founded.”
Other efforts include tripling the number of students who complete a paid internship through the creation of a central career office, and new partnerships with employers such as Google announced last week.
CUNY also committed to addressing some of the long-standing issues that have plagued the college system, from crumbling infrastructure to improving the transfer process.
Just 8% of the university’s 300 buildings are considered to be “in good repair,” according to the strategic plan. Officials set a goal to grow that figure to more than half of its buildings and complete almost all projects on time. Fewer than a third of facilities projects are currently finished within their stated time spans.
Officials are also eyeing ways to make it easier for students to transfer between campuses, especially for those who matriculate from two-year to four-year degree programs.
“In past years, many students who had earned associate degrees would lose credits when they transferred to a bachelor’s degree program for the same major at another CUNY college,” university officials said.
Faculty working groups in select majors have already started meeting to align courses, and the strategic plan lays out a vision to expand that work.
Earlier this week, CUNY rolled out new features of a tool that shows students how their credits would transfer between campuses.
