Key points:
- Barriers exist that prevent professional and continuing education and academic registrars from effective collaboration
- A closer relationship will serve traditional students as well as professional and continuing education learners
- See related article: Where is campus leadership headed in the post-pandemic era?
A new survey examining current relationships, successful collaborations, and barriers between institutional professional and continuing education (PCE) and academic registrars and others in central administration finds that while barriers exist, there is growing opportunity for better alignment to meet the needs of diverse student populations.
The report Collaboration, Competition or Convergence?: The relationship between professional and continuing education and traditional academic programs, explores the degree to which PCE and traditional academic programs currently operate in collaboration or competition for students and/or institutional resources.
The report is a collaboration between the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), and Modern Campus.
Data from this first-look 2023 benchmark survey addresses a number of issues, challenges, and opportunities that institutional professional and continuing education (PCE) units face with academic registrars and others in central administration. This includes a startling stat: 86 percent of respondents from institutions with existing PCE units believe that barriers exist that impact the ability of the PCE unit and the academic registrar to work closely together. These barriers include lack of common practices, policies, shared technologies and serving a common learner population.
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