What are the weirdest programs you know?

[spohara]

Hanging around this forum and doing some more searching on education, I'm seeing a lot of places break the mould on what higher education looks like.  What are some of the weirdest programs you've seen? Unusually long (>18 weeks, although 6mo for CBE is now normalish) or short (I know there are quite a few 7 week now, how about 6,5,4,3?!) semester lengths? High or low credits per class (1 credit classes in this program), high or low total credits for program completion (how about a masters in 18 credit hours?)? Or anything else weird or game changing about the way a program is delivered(how about just giving it away from a reputable IHL?)?

[sanantone]

I think the varying term lengths are to be expected now. For a long time, some traditional schools have offered 3-week Maymester and winter mini-mester courses. I've also seen 5.5 weeks and 6 weeks.

Union Institute and University used to allow students to make up their major, and I've seen some strange majors come out of there. Virginia University of Lynchburg has a 12-month doctoral program that doesn't require a capstone, dissertation, or applied research project. Their internships are not internships.

[spohara]

I think the varying term lengths are to be expected now. For a long time, some traditional schools have offered 3-week Maymester and winter mini-mester courses. I've also seen 5.5 weeks and 6 weeks.

Union Institute and University used to allow students to make up their major, and I've seen some strange majors come out of there. Virginia University of Lynchburg has a 12-month doctoral program that doesn't require a capstone, dissertation, or applied research project. Their internships are not internships.

Yeah, I guess there have always been 1-3 week "intensives" in between semesters, I was more curious about year round offerings for the program, but I guess 'weird' isn't as weird these days.  Made up majors sound fun.  I wonder if anyone literally has a BA in "underwater basket weaving".

[LevelUP]

Hanging around this forum and doing some more searching on education, I'm seeing a lot of places break the mould on what higher education looks like.  What are some of the weirdest programs you've seen? Unusually long (>18 weeks, although 6mo for CBE is now normalish) or short (I know there are quite a few 7 week now, how about 6,5,4,3?!) semester lengths? High or low credits per class (1 credit classes in this program), high or low total credits for program completion (how about a masters in 18 credit hours?)? Or anything else weird or game changing about the way a program is delivered(how about just giving it away from a reputable IHL?)?

From a Student's Prospective
The most optimal way to learn is by doing one course at a time. However, if a college teaches one course at a time, a term may only be 4 weeks, meaning multiple assignments are due per week. It's better if one assignment is due per week so that you are learning, then receiving feedback from the professor before turning in another assignment. So the perfect term length is 7 weeks.

From a Business Prospective
If a college charges $1500 per course, the more terms you can offer, the more money a college can make. Offering 6 terms a year versus 3 terms is double the money while paying staff 1/2 the salary per term. They pay adjuncts as little as $100 per student, which is 90%+ gross profit margins.

[bjcheung77]

Basically, many institutions worldwide have interesting regulations or rules, an example - the Big 3 (COSC, Excelsior, TESU) are the weirdest ones in the US, previously they allowed 100% transfer for their degrees! After say 2010, in 2011 they started to implement the requirement of Associates/Bachelors capstones that can't be transferred over. So far, the capstone/cornerstone remains the only ones that need to be completed at these (Excelsior also needs the Info Lit).

The bulk of the institutions we recommend that are competency based and allow alternative credit, you can transfer in 75% or up to 90 credits or so into the degree programs... Heck, I remember earlier when Excelsior had the MPA program at 33 credits, at a point in time, that degree allowed 30 credits to be transferred in, a few years ago, they dropped that down to 30 credits as a requirement and 27 transferable, lastly in 2019, they changed that to only allow 15 credits.