Dive Brief:
- The University of Florida's political science faculty have voted against offering an online poli-sci degree.
- According to the department chairman, the vote wasn’t based on opposition to online education, but to the concept of offering a fully online degree program.
- The political science department’s decision leaves a hole in the lineup for UF Online, which is aimed at high school graduates ages 18 to 22, Insider Higher Ed reports.
Dive Insight:
The University of Florida’s poli-sci department has several online versions of both introductory and upper-level courses, some of the department’s faculty members are concerned about the level of quality for completely online degree programs.
Faculty concerns included the state’s political direction and whether its commitment to online education would hold up under future political leaders. Also, the online major would have required students to take fewer electives than the traditionally taught degree program, which could lead to cannibalization to the classroom-taught program.
One of the arguments in favor of creating the online degree was that it could help reverse dwindling enrollment in political science—to 798 students last year from 1,059 students five years ago.