Seeking Students, Near and Far

In its 40 years at Boston University, Metropolitan College has transformed itself from a night school on the BU campus into a college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in locations, real and virtual, across the United States. But Jay Halfond, dean of MET and Extended Education, says that the more MET changes, the closer it hews to its original purpose of educating the nontraditional student.

“Focusing on our profile student has returned us to the past,” says Halfond. “We are taking a back-to-basics view of what our purpose is, what our responsibilities are to students in their 30s. We’re just doing it on a different scale.”

Last month, one of the college’s latest initiatives for reaching student professionals was recognized for unusual innovation by the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA). MET’s three-year-old Preferred Educational Partnerships model, which provides on-site and online graduate courses for local and regional partner companies, received this year’s UCEA Creative Partnership Award and was named a national best practices model in continuing education.

“It’s a nice recognition for us,” Halfond says. “It validates that what we’re doing is unique. We were honored for our outreach efforts, which in partnership with employers, impact both workforce development and regional economic development.”

The partnership program with employers, like many of MET’s degree tracks, is designed for midcareer professionals, but it takes the unusual step of developing educational programs tailored to specific employers, with both online and on-site courses. Liberty Mutual insurance company was the first business to bring MET courses into its headquarters in Portsmouth, N.H., and United Technologies made the leap into online education in 2005. There are now more than 30 business and technology programs offered at more than 50 companies, and this academic year brought 967 new enrollments to the college.

“Our goal is to create business-to-business relationships and to work with companies directly to attract students,” says Halfond. “Essentially, the company invites MET faculty and staff to bring certificate and degree programs to employers use existing tuition reimbursement frameworks.”

Participating companies have offered their employees a range of benefits associated with education. “United Technologies rewards students who earn master’s degrees with stock options, pays all their tuition expenses, including books, and gives them comp time to study,” says Katie Pasciucco, MET’s Admissions and Outreach Manager. “And we try to make it very easy for them — we create a unique Web site for the company that explains courses, degrees, and enrollment.”

The Preferred Educational Partnerships program adapts delivery schedules to accommodate midcareer students and their work hours. While the standard master’s program comprises 12 courses and typically takes two years to complete, MET recognizes professional designations, such as PMP (project management professional) or CFA (chartered financial analyst), as a mark of advanced standing toward graduate degrees. The designation, Halfond says, ensures that the professional development students have completed throughout their careers is recognized and rewarded as another form of higher learning.

As the program continues to grow, Halfond and MET faculty members  are looking for more expansion opportunities for applied research in industry. Building new local partnerships with nonprofits, such as current partner Boston Medical Center, is a priority, as is international development with corporations that have a presence overseas, like Boeing. “The international operation is very exciting for students, because they’re participating in courses with a diverse student body,” Halfond says.

An international student body is another sign of MET’s transformation, according to Halfond, but it’s just one more part of adapting to the needs of the nontraditional student. “I’m sure MET, as a local evening school, was somewhat unique 42 years ago,” he says. “We now work with local companies and their employees, but we have now allowed these same employers to offer high quality degrees across their global footprint. It’s all part of extending BU to a more mature, sophisticated, wider range of students. We’ve had to adapt with the times, and distance education in partnership with employer workforce needs is another breakthrough that lets us do that.”

Jessica Ullian can be reached at jullian@bu.edu.