Syracuse University has devised an external degree program in business administration in which students may take area competency tests that will reflect their knowledge gained from independent study or other outside sources for a bachelor's degree. The areas of competency for the degree are: Financial Information Systems; Environmental Studies;…

The College Board's College Level Entrance Examination and the Educational Testing Service's Advanced Placement Program allow students to earn credits for degrees without formal courses. (HS)

San Francisco State College's new program of credit by examination enabled 38 percent of the 1971 freshmen who took the CLEP to become instant sophomores. (HS)

The present documents offers a 78-item annotated bibliography on the topic of nontraditional studies and special degree programs. The bibliography grew out of an interest in published materials on various ways of meeting the special learning needs of adults. Materials included are essays, speeches, magazine articles, and reports of persons who…

This speech, given on March 23, 1971, at a luncheon meeting of the Troy Rotary, presents an overview of the Regents External Degree. After presenting opening humorous remarks, the author concentrates on a description of the External Degree, as modeled after the English Open University. The remainder of his remarks concern the progress made through…

This document presents the results of a study designed to: (1) obtain information that will be useful to colleges and universities as they develop new policies and implement practices in the area of Non-Traditional Educational Experiences (N-TEE); and (2) define current policy and practice and to obtain a sense of direction for additional…

Credit earned by examination at the University of Texas at Austin is equivalent to credit earned by taking the academic course, but cannot be counted as credit earned in residence. In the 1988-89 testing year, eight colleges or schools of the university participated in the credit-by-examination program. Evaluations of 29,698 test scores from 50…

The Bachelor of General Studies degree, a special degree program at the University of Nebraska, was established in 1950, as an academic division for the exclusive benefit of adult part-time students. The program has three distinctive features: (1) any useful combination of liberal arts and professional courses is acceptable; (2) the able student…

Many higher education institutions across the United States have instituted nontraditional study programs that incorporate elements such as flexibility and individualized learning into the curriculum. Implementation of such programs serve to increase options and open doors such as: the identification of new segments of our society to be served;…

This report discusses the various interpretations of the external degree concept, its potential impact on American higher education, and how an urban university may expand and improve its delivery systems to a larger variety of student populations on a sound financial basis. Areas covered include: prospective students; experience with home study…

An external degree is one granted on the basis of academic work undertaken through independent and flexible study and pursued in whole or in part outside of the framework of existing college and university courses. A person's qualifications for an external degree are measured not by a list of accumulated formal courses taken and passed, but by an…

Once external degree programs are fully accepted, they will further the dream of equal education for all. (HS)