WESTFIELD – Westfield State University leads Massachusetts’ universities placing in the top 15 percent out of 205 schools and is the only Massachusetts school public or private in the top 50 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 Best Online Education Programs Rankings. Westfield State’s official ranking was 31 out of 205 in the Online Education Bachelor’s Programs category based on new research and methodology conducted by U.S. News & World Report.
Westfield State offers six online bachelor’s degree completion programs in business management, criminal justice, liberal studies, history, sociology, and psychology.
“Westfield State saw the value of and embraced online education early on. Our goal was to provide quality faculty and content that reflects our institutional commitment of making higher education accessible to students wherever they are in life,” said Elizabeth H. Preston, PhD, president, Westfield State University. “Today, online learning is becoming more popular and accepted by employers. Degrees and course work from established programs like Westfield State’s provide credibility when students join or return to the workforce.”
These rankings were created in response to today’s high demand for education provided in a flexible manner. With many distractions to detract from schooling, online education has become increasingly popular due to its flexibility.
Changes to Methodology for 2014
Per U.S. News, the methodologies behind this year’s rankings changed significantly to reflect additional data and statistical processes used to do the calculations.
For the first time, all six rankings include peer review data based on schools’ evaluations of each other. The new rankings alo give greater weight to one-year retention rates, graduation rates and required time to graduate. These changes are the primary factors behind why schools moved up and down in the rankings.
Data was collected from both for-profit and not-for-profit schools. For more information about the rankings methodology, go to Methodology: Best Online Bachelor’s Programs Rankings
For more information about Westfield State’s online bachelor’s degree programs, please visit www.westfieldontheweb.net
