Online Education Opportunities at UH Campuses Garner Honor Roll Accolades

Math, Science and Business Programs Ranked in Debut List from U.S.News and World Report

The University of Houston College of Education and the University of Houston-Clear Lake School of Business get honor roll accolades from U.S.News and World Report.  Programs from the two UH System institutions are ranked in the inaugural edition of Top Online Education Programs.

The new “Honor Roll” list, on which the UH College of Education program iSMART and the UH-Clear Lake’s online MBA program are listed, indicates online programs consistently ranked in the top third among similar bachelor and graduate programs.  Though the “Honor Roll” measures overall quality, no numerical rankings were assigned for the 40 university programs listed.  

Top Online Education Programs is a reflection of the high demand for convenient and flexible course delivery methods, according to the magazine.   To be considered for this ranking, online degree programs had to have at least 80 percent of course content available online. 

The list also ranked the online bachelor’s and master’s programs of more than 150 universities in the categories of student engagement and assessment, faculty credentials and training, and student services and technology.  Graduate programs also were ranked in the category of admissions selectivity.

“Innovation and technology are essential to the future of education,” said Robert McPherson, dean of the college of education.  “The goal is to transform the perception and practice of online learning.”

The UH College of Education’s graduate online program, iSMART, is ranked third in both student services and technology, and admissions selectivity, and 32nd  among the more than 150 universities ranked for student engagement and accreditation.  Directed by Professor Jennifer Chauvot, iSMART- Integrated Science, Math and Reflective Thinking- is an online master’s program designed to improve science and math instruction.  Teachers from across Texas are presented opportunities to incorporate the two subjects and to develop the leadership skills of other educators who collaborate online.  The program debuted in 2009 thanks to a grant from the Greater Texas Foundation.

“Our faculty are very forward thinking,” McPherson said.  “Everyone associated with iSMART should be proud of this prestigious honor and the hard work it acknowledges.”

The University of Houston-Clear Lake is one of only two Houston-based universities  that offers an online MBA program accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International.  It is ranked 18th in faculty credentials, 21st in student services and technology, and eighth in student engagement and technology. The program offers seven sub-plans: Environmental Management, Finance, Human Resource Management, International Business, Leadership, Management Information Systems, and Management of Technology.  In addition, the online MBA was ranked one of the “Top Ten Best Buys” in the country by GetEducated.com, a consumer group that publishes online college rankings and online university based on affordability and credibility.  UH-Clear Lake’s School of Business offers two online graduate degrees in addition to the Master of Business Administration including Master of Arts in Human Resource Management and a Master of Science in Finance.

“We’re very proud of the time and effort our faculty put into making our online graduate degrees top notch,” said William T. Cummings, dean of UH-Clear Lake’s School of Business.  “We’re also extremely pleased with the support provided by UH-Clear Lake’s Office of University Computing and Telecommunications staff, who helped our faculty develop the courses that led to us being named to this honor roll.”

The Top Online Education Programs ranked online bachelors and graduate programs in business, engineering, nursing, education and computer information technology.