Last Thursday, The Herald reported that the University is moving to establish "professionally oriented master's programs" by fall 2012. According to Karen Sibley, dean of continuing education, most of the instruction will be done online save for "intensive periods" of actual class time at the very beginning and end of each program.
Though we like seeing the University take opportunities to expand Brown's academic offerings, we remain skeptical that they might come at the expense of the undergraduate experience. Brown is fundamentally an undergraduate institution, and, in this significant way, it differs from some other universities to which we are frequently compared. We fear sustained efforts to approximate their graduate prowess will result in undue neglect of the undergraduate college that makes Brown distinctive.
This is why we were pleased to see Sibley's explanation to The Herald of the myriad ways in which administrators have worked to assuage these and other concerns that this program raises. Class time for these nontraditional students will be concentrated on weekends and in the evenings to avoid disrupting undergraduates, and when they are in Providence, the students will stay in hotels so as not to strain housing resources.
Perhaps most importantly, after two years, the program will have a net positive effect on the University's finances. Though Brown will provide financial aid, it "is not expected to play a large role" in the new master's programs because most costs will be paid by the enrollees' professional employers.
So it seems that the new master's programs will not come at the expense of other programs here — in fact, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 estimated that after all the costs, these programs will bring in about one-third of their cost in profits. Assuming Sibley's and Kertzer's assertions are accurate, we are cautiously optimistic that this new program has the potential to be a net positive to Brown. But some concerns remain.
For example, The Herald reported that one of the main objectives of establishing this program was to diversify Brown's revenue sources. But should the University really be creating new programs just to serve as cash cows? We, like Richard Fishman, professor of visual art, who was quoted in last week's article, worry about the possibility of "eroding Brown's reputation in order to leverage a revenue stream."
Particularly considering that the bulk of the education will be provided over the Internet, we are concerned that programs such as this have the potential to diminish the value of a graduate degree from Brown. We disagree with Sibley's assertion that classroom education is not inherently superior to online education, and we fear the short stint prospective, professionally oriented master's students will spend in an actual classroom will be insufficient to meaningfully supplement their primarily online education.
This is not to say that we are categorically opposed to this new program. It should help mid-career professionals get the training they need to stay afloat in a rough job market by giving them practical knowledge in the context of a liberal learning approach. And Fishman explained that his concerns were abated when he saw the operation of Brown's new IE Executive MBA program. Other schools, like Yale and Penn, have successfully established similar initiatives. If, as we hope, the new professionally oriented master's programs are implemented carefully and with attention to the concerns we and others have highlighted, we expect that they will become a valuable addition to Brown's curricular offerings.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
