Six selected nontraditional approaches to curriculum at the University of Minnesota, each leading to a baccalaureate degree, are described. The programs are designed to provide flexibility to students enrolled in the university or to extend a university education to people not otherwise served. Each involves individual student selection of work to…

Within broad guidelines provided by the Community College of Vermont (CCV), associate degree students write their own individualized, competence-based contracts. Development of the contract includes both assessment of prior learning, and planning for sponsored learning: These are integrated through a "degree development sequence" which includes a…

The Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities (UECU) was developed as an alternative form of postsecondary education, fostering the development of university without walls programs at a number of institutions and initiating its own undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Its commitment is to personalized, self-directed, lifelong…

How do colleges and universities adapt programs of instruction to the changing times? In particular, do teachers receive appropriate recognition from their institutions for their leadership in these matters? The central aim of National Project III, a project of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, is to elevate the importance…

The final report of a 2-year study by the Commission on Non-Traditional Study (sponsored by the College Entrance Examination Board and the Educational Testing Service), the book deals with lifelong learning, external degrees, institutional reshaping, and educational alternatives. Suggestions and recommendations of the commission reflect the…