Arkansas State University cutting 9 programs
JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - Certain majors at Arkansas State University are on the chopping block, as the school announced they would be doing away with nine degrees as a result of an April meeting with the Department for Higher Education.
“It’s important for all the colleges and universities in Arkansas to offer programs that students are interested in and train them for a successful life,” Todd Clark said.
Clark is the Interim Chief Communications Officer for ASU and said when you look across the board, they were not all in one school.
“The degrees were spread out around the college and again like I said it was solely based on the number of graduates during a 3-year period,” Clark said.
Below is the list of majors that will be no more:
- M.A., Criminal Justice
- C.P., Leadership Studies
- C.P., Emergency Medical Technician-Basic
- G.C., Health Communications
- B.S., Health Promotion
- B.S., Multimedia Journalism
- B.A., Music
- T.C., Paramedic
- A.A.S., Paramedic
Clack said for students already enrolled in these courses nothing will really change.
“Students currently enrolled in the program won’t be impacted at all, they will be able to finish their degree as long as they are making consistent progress towards graduation,” Clark said.
The decision was made last April in a meeting with The Arkansas Department of Higher Education where the board looked at the viability of each program by a rolling 3-year average of graduates in that program.
Clark said while many people think this will save the school money, he stressed that is not the case.
“Cutting programs like this does not always lead to cost savings the course that could be tied up in a major could be in other majors that we still offer and the faculty members that teach those courses also teach courses in other majors,” Clark said.
With some programs going away for good Clark said there are no plans yet of adding other majors, but it is something they are always looking at.
“So, A-state is deeply invested in the needs of our students and the needs of industry, our community, and the state and constantly evaluating the programs they offer and what we can introduce,” Clark said.
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