OU’s Academic Programs Council will consider adjusting eight degree programs to become 90-credit hour speciality degrees Friday.
According to documents posted on the Academic Programs Council website, the eight programs would cut down the traditional 120-credit hour bachelor’s degree requirement by 30 hours through significant reductions in major-specific and general education coursework.
Degrees being considered for the program changes are bachelor’s in social work, applied artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital manufacturing, healthcare information systems, software development and integration, integrative studies, and interdisciplinary studies.
While all eight recommendations present different hour distributions and program changes, they all list that changes are being recommended to further support the mission of the university, Oklahoma State Regents of Higher Education’s priorities and the state’s economic growth through a strong graduate workforce.
“This structure reflects early guidance about potential statewide shifts in general education policy and aligns with growing interest in ninety-hour bachelor’s degree options in high need fields,” the recommendation for the bachelor’s of social work reads. “The goal is to maintain a strong general education foundation while offering a streamlined and affordable route into a critically needed professional workforce.”
OU Daily reached out to Paul Spicer, academic programs council chair; Grey Allman, associate provost for policy and administration; and Mark Morvant, senior vice provost for student success, for information about why the recommendations were made, if similar recommendations will come to other bachelor’s degrees and if they believe these reductions would diminish the quality of OU’s education.
Allman forwarded the Daily’s questions to OU Marketing and Communications. At the time of this article’s publication, the Daily has not received a response.
OU currently requires a minimum of 40 credit hours of general education courses across symbolic and oral communication, natural science, social science, arts and humanities, the first year experience, senior capstone experience and upper division requirements. While the changes differ across all eight degrees, each would cut its general education requirements to an average of 30 hours.
In the past few years, speciality degrees requiring 90 credit hours have become increasingly popular at some smaller schools. In 2023, Brigham Young University-Idaho and Ensign College became the first three-year degree programs in the country, offering five truncated programs online.
Since then, the number of shortened degree programs has now expanded to nearly 60 colleges nationwide, including Johnson & Wales University, Manchester University and Purdue University.
Johnson & Wales University has two main campuses in Rhode Island and North Carolina with a total student body of over 7,000 students. Manchester University in Indiana has around 1,300 students. Purdue University’s total enrollment across its two campuses is 57,310. OU has a student population of over 31,000 students across its three campuses.
The College of Liberal Arts at Purdue University, a member of the Association of American Universities, offers a Degree in 3 program, which allows students to graduate one year earlier than traditional plans of study for cost-effectiveness, but does still requires students to complete 120 hours.
The Association of American Universities is an invitation-only organization of America’s leading research universities credited for life changing education, research and innovation. Member universities earn the majority of federal funding for research that improves public health, seeks to address national challenges and contributes to the education and training of younger generations.
Part of the “Lead On, University” strategic plan is for OU to become an institution recognized by the AAU. This includes hiring 25 new faculty members every year for the next seven years to maintain excellence and provide further academic opportunities for OU’s student body.
“As we look at our strategic plans … hopefully you’ll see inside of this clear objective measures to get to be one of the public AAUs,” OU President Joseph Harroz said at a launch event in April. “You got to be invited in, but we’re going to meet the standards. That’s our goal in (the) next five years, this refresh of the strategic plan.”
The Academic Programs Council will meet at 2 p.m. Friday over Zoom to discuss the potential changes.
This story was edited by Natalie Armour, Thomas Pablo and Ana Barboza.
