Rogers State University ranked 36th nationally for having top-credentialed faculty teaching its online bachelor’s degree programs, according to U.S. News & World Report’s inaugural national survey of online education programs.
RSU was the only Oklahoma university to be included in the faculty credentials category, which ranked schools based on the number of instructional faculty who have doctorate degrees or terminal degrees as well as the experience of its instructors in teaching online courses.
RSU also was included in the survey categories for student services/ technology and teaching practices/student engagement, for which it was the top-ranked public university in Oklahoma.
The results were released Jan. 10 in the first-ever edition of Top Online Education Program rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Cameron University and Langston University were the only other Oklahoma public colleges included in survey, which required online degree programs to have at least 80 percent of its course content available online in order to be considered. There were no numeric rankings for overall program quality during the survey’s inaugural year.
A national pioneer in online education, RSU offers five bachelor’s degrees and four associate degrees, entirely online. Since the inception of its online distance education program in 1992, RSU has earned distinction as the first university in Oklahoma, and one of the first in the nation, to offer bachelor’s and associate degrees entirely via the internet.
“For two decades, RSU has been a leader in providing online education for students who might not otherwise be able to attend classes at our physical campuses in Claremore, Bartlesville and Pryor,” said RSU President Dr. Larry Rice. “RSU’s high marks in the U.S. News and World Report survey demonstrate our desire to provide Oklahomans with flexible online degree programs, while also ensuring our online students learn from faculty who have the top credentials within their field.”
RSU Online offers bachelor’s degrees in liberal arts with an option in English, liberal arts with an option in global humanities, business administration with an option in management, business information technology with an option in software development and multimedia, business information technology with an option in computer network administration, organizational leadership and applied technology. Associate degrees are available in applied technology, business administration, liberal arts with an option in English, liberal arts with an option in global humanities and computer science.