Dive Brief:
- The California State University System is ditching its Cal State Online distance education portal less than two years after its launch, replacing it with a shared services model, Inside Higher Ed reports.
- Cal State Online launched in 2012 as a centralized gateway to all of the online offerings in the university system, describing a long-term growth goal of enrolling more than 250,000 students over “several decades.” But the portal today features only five bachelor’s degree programs, two master’s degree programs, and four general education courses.
- Only five of the 23 campuses in the Cal State System — Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Humboldt State, and Monterey Bay — have participated in the online portal.
Dive Insight:
Cal State Online will undergo a “re-envisioning,” according to Ephraim Smith, Cal State’s executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, which includes folding it into the academic technology services department of the chancellor’s office. Smith said in a memo that the system will “migrate to the next phase of support services,” but that next phase apparently hasn’t been determined.