Asia Makes It Two-for-Two: UMUC Awarded Second Education Contract

Augustus J. Prahl, the first director of UMUC–Asia (then the Far East Division), at the Chosun Pagoda in Korea, 1956.

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced through its Pacific Air Forces Contracting Office at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, that UMUC has been awarded a contract to continue offering courses and programs for six years at 50 military sites in nine countries in Asia and the South Pacific for all four branches of the U.S. armed services in the Pacific Command. This is the second major announcement regarding UMUC’s military education initiatives overseas since December 2002, when the University was awarded the Tri-Services contract for Europe and the Middle East.

Through the Asia contract, UMUC will offer a complete range of undergraduate academic programs throughout the Pacific Command, as well as a graduate counseling program in Okinawa.

“This announcement, along with the announcement in December regarding our educational services in Europe, further affirms UMUC’s position as the leading provider of education to the U.S. military worldwide,” said Gerald Heeger, president of UMUC. “Our service to the U.S. military has been and will be a very important part of our history and mission, and we are privileged to serve our country in this way.”

UMUC has been the leading educational partner worldwide with the U.S. Department of Defense since 1949 and currently delivers courses—both classroom-based and online—at more than 120 bases abroad in 28 foreign countries, including sites in Bosnia, the Sinai, and South Korea. Today, more than 1 million current and former members of the U.S. military are UMUC alumni, including 50 flag officers.

UMUC began serving U.S. military communities in Asia and the Pacific in 1956. Since then, close to half a million enlisted personnel, officers, and civilians from locations in Australia, Guam, mainland Japan, Korea, the Marshall Islands, Okinawa, Singapore, and Thailand have taken UMUC–Asia courses, and thousands have earned certificates or degrees.

Last year, UMUC served more than 47,000 active-duty military and dependents overseas. In the United States, UMUC enrolled an additional 6,000 active-duty military personnel through its stateside online and on-site programs–an increase of 30 percent over the previous year.

To broaden its service to the military stateside, UMUC in the past year has negotiated joint graduate programs with the U.S. Army Signal Center at Fort Gordon; the Joint Forces Staff College, National Defense University; the Naval War College; and the Army Management Staff College. In 1995, an educational partnership was established with the Informational Resources Management College, National Defense University. The programs enable military personnel to earn master’s degrees in information technology, computer systems management, or management. In 2000, the U.S. Navy selected UMUC as one of the first colleges or universities to offer distance-learning degrees to sailors as part of Navy College Program partnerships.

For information about degree requirements for UMUC partnerships with the U.S. military, visit our Web site.