November 2004

Photo by Cade Martin

By Andrea Martino

Often recognized for its worldwide reach in online education, UMUC also receives high marks close to home. According to 2004 rankings in Black Issues in Higher Education (BIHE) magazine, UMUC awarded more master’s degrees to African American students overall than only six other U.S. universities in 2002–2003. In Maryland, during the same time period, more minority students earned master’s degrees from UMUC than from any other public university in the state.

The rankings are particularly significant since they include degrees granted by historically black colleges and universities, which are generally understood to enroll more minority students than traditionally white universities.

Nationwide, UMUC also ranked sixth among traditionally white universities in awarding undergraduate degrees to African American students.

“UMUC has excelled for more than 50 years in serving adult students through distance education,” said UMUC Provost Nicholas Allen. “Minority students, like most students today, find part-time study a necessity when balancing education with family and work responsibilities. Minority students’ preference for UMUC mirrors our enrollment growth, due largely to our expertise in online delivery of high-quality academic programs that are most needed in today’s workplace.”

According to Allen, the University has seen particular enrollment increases in business and technology programs. According to BIHE , UMUC ranked fourth in the nation—and highest in the northeastern United States—among U.S. universities that awarded graduate degrees to African American students in business, management, marketing, and related fields. The University ranked ninth nationwide for the number of master’s degrees in computer and information services awarded to minority students.

“We were not all that surprised at the Black Issues in Higher Education rankings,” said Michael Evanchik, acting chair of UMUC’s MBA programs. “Washington Business Journal’s annual survey again ranked UMUC as having the largest graduate business program in the national capital region.”

UMUC has more than 6,000 students currently enrolled in graduate business programs, according to Washington Business Journal data; Strayer University, in Washington, D.C., the second largest school in the area, has fewer than half as many students. The second largest business school in Maryland is the University of Maryland, College Park’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, with fewer than a third as many students as UMUC.

Evanchik credits the increase in enrollment in UMUC’s MBA programs to their focus on being interdisciplinary, integrated, and applied—as well as to the fact that UMUC programs emphasize the interdependence of business and technology.

“Our graduate business programs explore organization and management processes in the context of today’s global business environment,” said Evanchik. “Because of the increasing reliance on information technology in an ever expanding global marketplace, UMUC professors in all our degree and certificate business programs work diligently to ensure that UMUC offerings are current, where business and technology intersect. That’s where our students need to be, and that’s where their UMUC education should take them.”