University Of Phoenix

University of Phoenix Highlights

• Largest private university system in North America with over 340,000 students
• Over 200 onsite locations and online university
• Students are working adults and most receive financial aid
• University-wide accreditation by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association; individual programs have programmatic accreditations

About University of Phoenix

The University of Phoenix (UOP) was founded in 1976 with the mission of giving working adults access to higher education opportunities. The university is structured to enable students to earn degrees while continuing to be employed full-time. The school offers over 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, technology, health care, and education.

University of Phoenix Academic Programs

The University of Phoenix's colleges and divisions offer a range of programs for students pursuing careers in such fields as: business, communication, criminal justice, education, health care, management, nursing, and information technology. The University's colleges and divisions include:

• Axia College of University of Phoenix (Associate's Degrees) – An online school for employed students seeking an academic base line for continued studies and/or career advancement. The college offers concentrations across all the program areas served by Phoenix, including business, communication, criminal justice, education, health care, hospitality, human services, information technology, psychology and sports management.
• College of Arts and Sciences – Designed to give students a core educational foundation with emphasis on understanding the interrelationships that exist across disciplines. The college's goal is to help develop essential skills, such as analysis, writing, oral communication, and team work, that will enhance a student's capabilities across many different career areas. Programs cover liberal arts subjects including humanities, communications, sciences, mathematics, and social sciences.
• Colleges of Business and Management (Bachelor's and Master's Degrees) – Programs focus on imparting the expertise and skills that are important for being effective professionals and managers in today's complex and fast-paced business environment. Available degree programs include those for accounting and finance, communications, international business, hospitality, human resources, information systems, supply chain and operations, marketing, retail, entrepreneurship, and management.
• College of Education – This college's goal is to help teachers and educators achieve success. Undergraduate courses are designed to ready students for teacher licensure. Graduate and doctorate programs are built to prepare students for taking on leadership roles in their careers as educators, administrators and educational specialists.
• College of Health and Human Services – Programs are structured to foster the underlying expertise and skills that are vital to the success of students as their careers move forward in the health and human service fields. Available degree programs include nursing, health care, criminal justice and security, counseling, and human services.
• College of Information Systems and Technology – The college's undergraduate programs focus on basic technologies while its graduate programs underscore management topics. All programs aim at teaching in environments that are similar to the way that professionals work. The programs are designed to integrate management of both business and technology, involve teamwork, and take advantage of digital resources such as electronic libraries and system simulations. Topic areas include business system design and analysis, networks, security, software design, databases, Websites, project planning, IT application life cycles, and communications.
• School of Advanced Studies (Doctoral Degrees) – The school's doctoral programs cover business and management, education, health care, and psychology. The programs are built to provide candidates with capabilities for creating original research in their respective fields.
• Military (U.S. only) – The University of Phoenix's military division is organized to meet the demanding schedules of military professionals. Students have a wide variety of the university's programs available to them.

The University of Phoenix designs all of its degree programs using a four-step process that identifies measurable learning outcomes for each course. These outcomes are intended to reflect the needs and context of the related field. Input for these outcomes comes from several sources, including leaders from education, business, industry, and the communities around each campus.

Learning Options at University of Phoenix

Since its founding the University of Phoenix has offered classes at times such as evenings and locations convenient for busy, working adults. The option of online classes further adds to the flexibility of working students to study towards degrees.

The school further helps working adults through a flexible scheduling system that allows enrollments year-round, unlike many other institutions that require a student to wait until the start of a semester or quarter. Since the University's year-round scheduling does not have extended breaks during the year or summer, students can compress the time it takes to complete their degrees.

Most students take one course at a time. Axia College students, who are pursuing online associate degrees, take two courses at a time.

Faculty

The University considers its faculty as critical to the integration of theory and practice in its classes. It strives to appoint faculty members with the appropriate levels of academic preparation and professional experience and skills. Faculty typically have master's or doctoral degrees in addition to practitioner time in their fields. For example the school has faculty members that work at some of the world's most known corporations. The school also encourages its faculty to keep current in their fields and participate in scholarly activities.

Student Life

The University of Phoenix student body represents a wide diversity of backgrounds. Students are from the United States, Mexico, the Netherlands, Europe, and other regions of the world. Some are just starting a degree program for the first time and others are pursuing degrees in addition to ones they already have. Some are expanding expertise in their current field while others are seeking to move careers to new fields.

For bachelor and graduate degree programs the University organizes students into teams to emulate real working conditions. These teams facilitate interactivity and learning between classmates.

The University's Student Services work with each student from enrollment to graduation. Services include a “Personal Graduation Team” that helps with enrollment, financing, and academics. A student's administrative activities can all be completed online, including registration, downloading books and educational materials, and reviewing schedules and grades.

University of Phoenix students find that technology is an integral part of their academic lives. The school's technology resources include an electronic book collection, virtual organizations that simulate realistic business problems, simulations of systems, centers of excellence for math and writing, an electronic feedback system for their written assignments, a faculty review service for papers, and online tutorials and guides.

Graduates are all automatically members of the The University of Phoenix Alumni Association and can take advantage of various benefits and services including financial and insurance resources, and the ability to purchase software, travel, and computers. Registered members also can receive job postings and an alumni directory.

Admissions and Financial Aid

Admission requirements vary by degree and program. All at least require a high school diploma or equivalent. Instead of essays or college entrance examinations, the University requires that students be employed or at least have access to an organizational situation for which class concepts can be applied. International, non-native English-speaking students must also pass a suitable test of English, such as TOEFL.

Admission into graduate programs also require an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university and a minimum grade point average.

The University offers several options for financing school costs and has financial representatives that assist in reviewing these. Options include various payment plans, tuition reimbursement plans from employers, U.S. government financial aid plans, private loans, and a military plan. The school also has several scholarship programs. Most University of Phoenix students receive some type of financial assistance.