Board of Regents Approve First Nexus Degrees
ATLANTA - With approval today by the Board of Regents, Albany State and Columbus State universities
this fall will become the first to offer the University System of Georgia (USG)’s
newest college education credential called a nexus degree.
Nexus degrees are college credentials that emphasize hands-on experiential learning,
skilled knowledge and connections with industry in high-demand career fields.
Columbus State’s new nexus degree will be in film production. Albany State will offer
two new nexus degrees, one in blockchain with machine learning and the other in blockchain
with data analytics. Other fields under consideration for future USG programs include
cybersecurity and financial technology.
“We are committed to meeting the needs of both Georgia’s workforce and industry by
giving students the skills they need as they grow into different careers and seek
to expand their knowledge base,” Chancellor Steve Wrigley said. “I applaud Albany
State and Columbus State for being the first institutions to offer our newest college
credential.”
Nexus degrees expand on an educational portfolio that already includes associate,
bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. They stem from work being done as part
of USG’s College 2025 Initiative, which seeks to refine the delivery and accessibility
of public higher education to meet 21st-century learning and career needs.
Final recommendations from a committee working on the College 2025 initiative were
also released today, and are available online at https://www.usg.edu/college2025/.
A nexus degree is a 60-credit-hour degree, consisting of 42 credit hours of general
education and 18 credit hours of coursework focusing on the skills and knowledge requirements
of high-demand industries. The 18 credit hours create an apprenticeship aspect that
must include at least six credit hours of experiential learning and at least 12 credit
hours of upper division coursework.
Curriculum for the credential is being designed in collaboration with industry experts
to ensure it meets specific requirements for high-demand jobs, including those in
the market now and those planned for the future.
While a nexus degree can stand on its own, it also allows USG’s 26 institutions to
be creative in using the credential to expand on other educational opportunities.
That includes the potential to use a nexus degree toward completion of a new kind
of associate degree, one targeted toward a high-need technical field.
It includes new options to create stackable credentials concentrated in highly specialized
fields as part of a bachelor’s degree.
The new degree is additionally valuable for people who may have a job but want to
acquire a new skill, or who have not yet completed a college degree and want to advance.
While Albany State and Columbus State are the first to offer nexus degrees, other
USG institutions have entered the planning stages for how a nexus degree can benefit
their students and communities. Each individual program created as a nexus degree
must receive additional approval by the Board of Regents to ensure the integrity of
the degree and the curriculum.
Read more: https://www.usg.edu/news/release/board_of_regents_approve_first_nexus_degrees
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