As New Jersey’s comprehensive public research university, Rutgers is poised to assume leadership in providing the state’s adult learners with accessible lifelong learning opportunities. With off-campus sites throughout the state and new information technologies that can bring programs directly to individual students, this goal is now attainable.

The Rutgers University College of Applied and Professional Studies (CAPS) is being established as a new academic unit, specifically designed to align academic planning and program delivery with rapidly changing workforce developments in the state of New Jersey. Responding to the growing needs for lifelong learning, new programs will serve new students. CAPS will offer new high-priority, innovative and flexible educational programs in applied and professional studies that are not now offered by Rutgers either on or off campus. The College will focus on upper division and post-graduate applied and professional education for a growing adult off-campus clientele, with new graduate certificate and master’s degree programs and novel upper-division baccalaureate programs in emerging technical and professional areas.

Rutgers values and fosters habits of lifelong learning; CAPS will ensure that there are responsive and flexible academic programs available to meet these needs. Programs will be consistent with New Jersey’s emerging workforce needs and will be designed to educate a workforce equipped with the necessary skills for employment in a rapidly changing labor market.

CAPS will have a small, high quality full-time core extension faculty to determine program needs, design curricula, and deliver programs. A term-contract adjunct faculty will assist in instruction.

A network of accessible off-campus locations will bring the educational expertise of the university to prospective students and link Rutgers’ educational mission to its land grant mandate. In addition, distance learning technologies (including both online and interactive video modes of instruction) will enable the university to expand educational opportunities and serve place-bound adult students within New Jersey and beyond.

With an initial university investment to support infrastructure and non-state funded faculty positions, tuition revenues and fees will fully support the enterprise. CAPS will utilize innovative business models to ensure cost-effective delivery of programs.

Introduction

As a recent Kellogg Commission Report on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities notes, "… public research universities must be leaders in a new era of not simply increased demand for education, but rather of a change so fundamental and far-reaching that the establishment of a true "learning society" lies within our grasp."¹  Surveying the challenges facing New Jersey in the next decade and years beyond, it is clear that there is a compelling need for flexible, professional/technical academic offerings to respond to emerging workforce issues.

Higher education is rapidly changing and the need for ongoing educational opportunities and lifelong learning has become the norm. Many professionals, long-since graduated from college, will need additional education to remain competitive in the workforce. Systemic and structural changes in business and industry since the mid-1980s increasingly require lifelong professional education for those who wish to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving labor market. Furthermore, programs must be locally accessible; students need access to programs close to where they live and work.

In response to growing needs, the new College of Applied and Professional Studies (CAPS) will develop and implement off-campus, adult-focused program initiatives. These will include selected upper division, degree-completion programs and master’s programs in fields not currently offered on Rutgers’ campuses. Programs are being designed for place-bound adults who seek professional certification, rather than for on-campus students or traditional age community college transfer students.

Distance learning is key to CAPS’ development. Prototype interactive video classroom facilities are already available on all three campuses, so interactive synchronous instruction is now available. The Rutgers Regional Network SONET-ring technology slated for completion in April 2002 and connectivity through NJEDge.Net will enable Rutgers to reach virtually any location in the state with synchronous interactive and/or asynchronous instruction. CAPS will lease facilities and use telecommunications networks, including the Rutgers Regional Network, where feasible.

By developing a range of delivery methods, including classroom instruction, interactive video, and asynchronous distance learning, CAPS will provide programs across the state in a manner that is both effective and high in quality.

Organization

CAPS will be organized for off-campus programs, with its own faculty and dean. An academic unit charged specifically with the task of serving off-campus, adult students through in-person and distance learning programs can provide a focal point for programs and services for adult students throughout the State; foster planned growth in instruction and student services; and maximize cost effective delivery of programs and economies of scale in administrative services and marketing.

Program Quality

As the state’s flagship university, Rutgers’ off-campus programs will be of the highest quality. Courses will be developed in the same manner as on-campus courses, offered as part of a coherent curricular thrust based on student need and interest, offered in innovative course formats to maximize learning opportunities and accessibility. Programs will be accredited where appropriate, and continuous monitoring will sustain and ensure quality.

CAPS courses will be taught by CAPS extension faculty, chosen for their professional expertise and their teaching skills. A small, high quality full-time core extension faculty will develop and deliver programs. These faculty members will be joined by term-contract adjunct faculty to assist in delivering instruction.

In order to assume a public service leadership position, Rutgers should move ahead with the CAPS project. Several other higher education institutions are providing distance learning courses to New Jersey residents and the large AAU publics from neighboring states are already approaching potential New Jersey higher education partners. By building on academic and infrastructure strengths, RU-CAPS will offer a higher quality, comprehensive set of programs that will better serve the educational and rapidly changing workforce needs of the state.

Budgetary Issues

This proposal for a new, degree-granting collegiate unit requires an investment in the human resource infrastructure necessary for the efficient operation of a market-responsive unit. Over the five-year development plan, RU-CAPS will develop its own support staff, utilizing the newest technology and programming to provide client-friendly service, in a cost-efficient manner.

Once the College is established as a self-supporting unit, it will generate significant revenues back to the university. A portion of these revenues will be used to support on-campus programs.

Factors Contributing to Growth²

The entire nation finds itself in an increasingly complex educational environment, and the higher education community is scrambling to respond to very rapid changes, among which are the following:

• Part-time students are the fastest growing population in higher education, a demographic trend that will continue well into this coming century.

• The composition of the U.S. civilian labor force will change dramatically by the year 2005, but the number of new entrants into that labor force will be insufficient for the economy’s needs.

• Tuition costs continue to outpace inflation, thereby placing ever greater emphasis on flexibility in acquiring affordable portions of programs and degrees.

• Continuous learning yields higher earnings, as workers upgrade the skill sets being demanded by virtually all professions.

• Approximately 6.4 million adult students, over the age of 25, will enroll in higher education by 2002.³

• Single women head increasing numbers of families. This particular group is especially interested in educational opportunities that are convenient, both in time and place.

• The total current enrollment in the U.S. in credit-bearing asynchronous distance learning courses is almost 700,000 adults. This number is expected to grow to over 2.5 million by 2005, representing a growth rate of approximately 20% per year.

• Job growth is fastest in occupational groups requiring more education, thereby placing greater demands on the educational system. Much of this education will be at the post-baccalaureate level.

• The older adult population is expanding rapidly, with individuals remaining in the workforce longer, reinforcing the need for lifelong post-baccalaureate opportunities that are skill-focused and career related.

These trends are particularly evident in New Jersey, where an estimated 25,000 adults have enrolled in asynchronous distance learning courses, including courses offered by out-of-state institutions.⁴  Fueled by employer interest in advanced education and training for the workforce that is accessible but that does not interfere with time on the job, this number will grow to over 100,000 within the next five years. Surveying the challenges facing New Jersey over the next decade, it is clear that an academic unit directly responsive to workforce needs would provide an important service to the State.

Systemic and structural changes in business and industry since the mid-1980s require lifelong professional education for people in the workforce who wish to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving labor market. It is estimated that today’s typical college graduate will require the equivalent of seven additional years of education and/or training, over a working lifetime, to stay competitive in the employment marketplace with the current rate of change.

Just as structural changes in the economy have resulted in the increased need for lifelong learning for workforce competitiveness, so too has the need for locally accessible programs. While individuals need to retrain, few can return to campus. CAPS will take the education and training to them instead.

Several studies now show the need for upper-division degree-completion programs, distributed throughout the state. A recent survey of New Jersey community college presidents identified 110 requests for upper-division off-campus or distance learning degree completion programs for place-bound, adult students. The delivery of cogent programs in a marketplace that is shifting rapidly over space and time is not well-served by the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ commuting to campus solution.

Several areas in New Jersey do not have sufficient public upper division and graduate programs. The Commission on Higher Education already has identified the Monmouth/Ocean County region as a priority. It is anticipated that job growth in technology and tourism, key elements in that region’s economy, will outpace the state average. The northwestern region of the state, including Warren, Sussex, and Morris counties, will also experience higher than average growth, in both population and industry. The population of Sussex County, for example, is expected to grow by 10.5% in the next ten years, exceeding the state’s anticipated growth rate of 7.8%. Adults in this region do not have easy access to public higher education and are not likely to gain such access either through new facilities or the expansion of existing campuses.

Program Development

There is considerable statewide demand for degree-granting programs in emerging professional areas. Projections of labor demand document a shortage of well-trained professionals in several disciplinary areas. Traditional collegiate faculties, already fully engaged in on-campus instruction and research, cannot and should not redirect resources from these tasks. CAPS will take the development and implementation of market-driven programs as its raison d’être, engaging a faculty that will be rewarded for quality instruction. This unit will develop an off-campus infrastructure that will foster and encourage mutually beneficial partnerships with existing Rutgers academic units, as well as with community colleges statewide. A separate academic unit dedicated to the mission of applied and professional studies and distributed program delivery for place-bound and adult students will:

• Be responsive to market demand and workforce development needs

• Offer varied curricula in convenient delivery formats designed for place-bound and adult part-time students.

• Provide effective service to adult learners

• Offer enrollment in academic programs that are not available on the Rutgers campuses, as well as expand educational opportunities throughout the state

• Provide a seamless and one-stop administrative center for the adult student for credit and non-credit professional development programs

• Serve the entire state through multiple off-campus locations and innovative electronic course formats

• Adapt quickly to market changes; establish routine feedback and quality control elements so that all programs are continually monitored and improved.

A New Paradigm for Outreach

The Rutgers University College of Applied and Professional Studies (CAPS) is being designed to better align academic planning and program delivery with rapidly changing workforce developments in the State of New Jersey. This new academic unit will have a clear mandate to develop and deliver high-priority, innovative and flexible educational programs that will: (a) be oriented outward to education at convenient locations throughout the state, (b) concentrate on applied and professional studies at the advanced level, (c) utilize a market-driven approach to delivery, and (d) serve as a single (highly visible) point of contact for Rutgers’ off-campus academic programs.

CAPS will take educational expertise from the university to the students, acknowledging that commuting to campus is not practical for many adult students. The new College will develop a presence throughout the state of New Jersey, by creating an accessible network of off-campus locations, both expanding educational outreach programs and explicitly reconnecting the educational mission to the university’s traditional land grant roots. In addition, CAPS will employ distance learning technologies (including both online and interactive video modes of instruction) to extend educational opportunities, both within the borders of the state and beyond.

CAPS will offer carefully selected graduate certificate and master’s degree programs, responding to New Jersey’s emerging workforce needs. In concert with New Jersey’s community colleges, as well as with Rutgers’ on-campus units, CAPS will also develop several novel upper-division baccalaureate programs, designed to deliver a workforce equipped with the necessary skills for employment in a highly volatile and rapidly changing labor market. CAPS’ undergraduate degree completion programs will be distinct from degree programs currently offered on the university’s three campuses.

In order to ensure that programs are of the highest quality, CAPS will develop a specialized faculty, whose primary responsibilities are teaching, advising, and counseling. The core full-time faculty will be assisted by part-time professionals, who will serve as lecturers for the various programs. The faculty will meet high quality Rutgers standards.

The organizational structure will ensure cost-effective delivery of programs. Over time the programs will become self-sustaining, and eventually will generate additional new resources for reinvestment on-campus.

CAPS will develop and market top-quality professional instruction for the state of New Jersey. Courses, curricula, and faculty will be evaluated by standard Rutgers internal review processes, involving departmental, collegiate and university-level review and by external peer review. CAPS will also seek professional certification by the appropriate professional bodies, as appropriate.

The university now has a widely disparate and eclectic collection of off-campus offerings. CAPS’ centralized administrative services will be able to provide support to complement the university’s current, successful off-campus efforts. The new College will seek to work cooperatively with the existing off-campus professional programs for their enhancement. Professional schools within the university will determine the extent of their participation in CAPS programs.

Regional Coverage

New Jersey’s Higher Education Capacity Task Force has recommended partnerships between institutions as one way of addressing existing and future demand in regions of the state that are currently underserved by public higher education. As New Jersey’s comprehensive public research university, Rutgers must provide leadership in such partnerships, addressing these new challenges. CAPS will provide a mechanism for addressing program priorities that have not been well served to date.

CAPS will launch its first initiatives in four regions throughout the state that have been identified as underserved by the Commission on Higher Education. Areas include Monmouth-Ocean, Trenton-Flemington, Atlantic-Cape, and Northwestern New Jersey. Rutgers has a presence in the first two areas and in fact has already developed an effective cooperative model, the Rutgers-Brookdale Partnership in Higher Education in Monmouth County. Programming for the Atlantic-Cape region is under discussion with higher education and government officials in the Atlantic City region, and programs in the northwest part of the state will require additional planning.

Advantages of a Separate College

The development of a stand-alone academic unit, with a broadly defined mission to serve off-campus and distance learning students, has the following advantages:

• Strategic planning will ensure that the distributed programs are well coordinated and of the highest quality.

• With its clear focus on adult student learners, CAPS will provide the kind of seamless academic and administrative apparatus that adult students need; student services will be well coordinated with instructional needs.

• CAPS will offer "one-stop-shopping," that is, convenient, coordinated student services.

• CAPS programs will be responsive to changing needs in the workforce; as a coordinated unit, the College will be in an excellent position to launch needed programs in a timely manner.

• Cost effective delivery will be a central organizing principle of the new College. This self-supporting, market-driven unit must use resources wisely to be successful.

To ensure quality control, CAPS will monitor course and instructor quality, using the standard mechanisms (faculty peer review and student evaluations) and the same quality standards as are used for on-campus courses. Efforts will be aimed at continually improving all aspects of service and instruction, with best practices integrated throughout the operations. Ongoing quality review will ensure that changes will be made as needed, and that high quality instruction remains the standard.

Relationship to Existing Academic Units

CAPS will not interfere with the credit bearing outreach efforts of schools such as GSE, SSW, GSM, SCILS, SMLR, GS-N (Nursing, Public Administration), and others. These programs will continue as they currently operate. CAPS will not regulate their calendars, schedules, pricing, or otherwise have an approval power over existing off-campus programs offered by other academic units.

Existing schools may choose to work with CAPS, or make use of infrastructure developed by it; but in all such cases, it will be voluntary and the result of mutual agreement.

In effect, existing professional schools will continue to have jurisdiction over their own outreach efforts. For example, CAPS will not offer an MBA, nor will it offer degrees in Social Work, Pharmacy, Education, Communication, Human Resources, Labor Relations, nor other professional areas represented by traditional on-campus units. Further, this exclusion shall extend to the form of the instruction, as well as the locus of instruction (e.g. CAPS will not develop an on-line MBA, even if the GSM does not chose to do so).

The primary mission, providing off-campus professional and applied programs for adults and degree completion for adults who are geographically place bound and unable to attend classes on-campus (for either financial or personal reasons) provide a powerful market separation between potential CAPS constituents and our traditional applicant.

Academic Organization

The College will have programs rather than departments. Faculty appointed to a particular degree program will be responsible for the academic oversight of that program. Each program will have at least one senior full-time faculty member, who will serve as program director. These program directors will work with the dean and cognate faculty at the university to hire additional full-time faculty.

Academic oversight and quality control of individual academic programs will be vested in the program faculties. CAPS faculty will set degree requirements, consonant with standard practice and in line with Rutgers’ policies. The general education requirements for any baccalaureate programs offered by CAPS will be the same as those offered by University College-New Brunswick.

Program faculty will be responsible for the academic oversight of the major degree programs, adding, modifying, and removing courses within their respective programs, monitoring quality and standards, advising and certifying students, and overseeing all other issues related to the successful delivery of baccalaureate and professional master’s degree programs.

Integration of Tenured Faculty

Structures will be developed to integrate tenured faculty in the recruitment, selection, reappointment, curriculum and instructional aspects of CAPS.

Recruitment and Selection: The probability of recruiting a high quality faculty can be increased through the introduction of tenured faculty into the recruitment and selection process. Search committees for CAPS faculty will include tenured faculty from related disciplines. During the planning year, for example, the new school will likely engage searches for a dean and as many as eight full-time faculty, several of whom may serve as program directors. Several search committees, each constituted primarily of tenured faculty, can help insure that a high quality core faculty is recruited.

Curriculum Development and Instruction: Although CAPS will be developing programs that are different than those offered on-campus, there are likely to be a number of faculty in related areas who may be interested in participating in CAPS in a number of ways. On one level, tenured faculty in related fields may be willing to participate in "major program curriculum development and review committees". CAPS will seek to engage such faculty in these curriculum committees.

In addition, certain tenured faculty may be qualified to teach in a CAPS program. In these cases, CAPS will develop a number of mechanisms to facilitate this type of program enrichment. However, in these cases extreme care must be taken to insure that participation in CAPS will not draw resources away from on-campus programs.

Establishing a tenure track core: Although CAPS will seek to develop cost efficient program delivery, and will need to remain agile, the presence of tenured and tenure track faculty within CAPS will help insure an environment supportive of both academic freedom and quality program delivery. To this end CAPS will provide one tenured or tenure track position for every ten FTE faculty positions by its third year of operation.

Admissions

CAPS will consider for admission any student who has completed an associates degree or who can present completion of 60 credits in good academic standing, and who is also required to consider an off-campus program alternative. Students admitted to CAPS must have completed all lower division general education requirements and pre-requisite courses. Most of these students will tend to be adult, over 25, and currently employed. If an on-campus Rutgers student wishes to major in a CAPS program, that student will need to transfer from their current school to CAPS. Rutgers College (or other undergraduate college) students will not be able to major in CAPS programs. Since all CAPS programs will be available ONLY at off-campus locations, this would mean that a student would have to decide not only to change majors, but also change their status from an on-campus student to an off-campus student. The student would not be eligible for housing or certain other benefits. CAPS courses will ordinarily not be open to on-campus students. On-campus students should receive permission from their home department and CAPS to register for a CAPS course.

Transfers from CAPS to an on-campus school would require the same application review as any other transfer from one campus to another. While CAPS courses will meet free elective credit, whether CAPS courses fulfill on-campus major or collegiate general education (distribution) requirements would be left entirely up to the faculty or fellows of the individual schools.

Students applying to other RU collegiate units will not be offered automatic admission into CAPS; students must affirmatively apply for admission into CAPS just as they would for any other Rutgers unit.

Facilities

It is anticipated that by 2006, CAPS will provide programs statewide in facilities shared through partnerships with other higher education institutions, leased space, and university off campus facilities. Requirements include instructional, office, and infrastructure space.

Oversight Structures as Recommended by the Senate Governance Committee

Executive Committee: The quality of each academic program carrying the Rutgers name shapes perceptions of the value of every other Rutgers program. The university's need for strict academic standards in every unit arises from this interdependence. To uphold our firm commitment to high standards across the university, the programs of every school and faculty are subject to regular, explicit, and detailed review and approval by appropriately constituted academic bodies. Similarly, appointments and promotions within the standing faculty take place under rigorous conditions specified in a university-wide procedure. Arguably the means toward these vital ends must differ in the context of the academic markets CAPS would serve. In comparison with traditional academic units CAPS must be particularly agile in responding to changing academic opportunities. However, the exigencies of the highly competitive marketplace for applied professional education do not obviate the need for rigorous procedures to ensure academic quality.

To this end, an Executive Committee shall be established to assist with the development of CAPS. The Executive Committee would have several functions:

• Review and approve all academic programs and their curricula
• Provide regular review of and advice on improving the academic and financial performance of existing programs
• Approve appointments and renewals of CAPS core faculty
• Provide academic advice to the CAPS dean on proposed new initiatives
• Provide liaison with other units in cases in which CAPS programs draw on courses and faculty of such units

Advisory Board: An Advisory Board shall be established to provide assistance to the CAPS dean during the important initial phase of operation (i.e. the planning year). The Advisory Board shall be appointed by the President with input from the Senate Executive Committee. The Advisory Board shall include representation from the Senate Executive Committee, collegiate and faculty deans, and tenured faculty. The Advisory Board shall, in particular, address emergent relationships between CAPS and existing academic units, explore infrastructure and library support services, admissions, articulation and others issues as may be appropriate. The Advisory Board shall be constituted for one year and will report back to the President and the Senate by October 2001, and by April 30, 2002.

Footnotes:
¹ Returning to Our Roots:  A Learning Society.  Fourth Report of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, September, 1999.
² Life Long Learning Trends, A Profile of Continuing Higher Education.  National University continuing Education Association, 4th edition, April 1996.
³ Fischetti, Mark, et. al., Education: University Business, pp. 45-51.
⁴ Several out of stte instutitions with significant New Jersey enrollments include:  Colorado State University (MBA, est. NJ enrollment, 400); Ball State University (MBA, est. NJ enrollment, 350); and the University of Delaware (several programs including Hotel Management, st. NJ enrollment, 350).