More Classes will be Available for Students

JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Edward Waters College (EWC) has joined a course sharing consortium that will give its students access to classes offered at hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country.

By joining the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Course Sharing Consortium, EWC has now removed one of the potential barriers to on-time graduation for its students.

“The decision by Edward Waters College to join the course sharing consortium is demonstrative of our desire to provide as many resources for our students as we can,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Donna H. Oliver. “There will always be barriers to graduation for some students, including financial difficulties or perhaps problems at home; however, we don’t want the lack of course availability to be one of the reasons our students don’t graduate on time. By joining the consortium, we are immediately making more classes available to our students, which can only enrich their college experience.”

There are at least eight other HBCUs in the CIC Course Sharing Consortium, including Benedict, Jarvis Christian, Lane, Stillman and Talladega colleges, as well as Dillard, Florida Memorial and Wilberforce universities.

About 250 institutions throughout the country participate in the course sharing consortium, including Florida Memorial, Palm Beach Atlantic, Saint Leo, St. Thomas and Southeastern universities — all in Florida.

Edward Water College’s Interim Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Dr. Julius Scipio, is excited over the potential impact the consortium can have on EWC students.

 

“Course sharing allows our students to enroll in courses as they need them, versus waiting for us to offer them,” Scipio said. “If an institution offers a course beginning mid-semester that we don’t offer, our students can sign up for it and take it at that institution. It’s a good option to have and gives our students more flexibility. Some larger institutions offer many more courses than we do and may also be more flexible with regards to when they offer them.”

For example, Scipio said some institutions have what’s called “mini-mester” courses, which begin at the start of the semester and end at midterms, or begin midway through the semester. Other institutions offer accelerated courses — both of which will now be available to Edward Waters College students.

“The responsibility for finding courses to take online at other institutions won’t fall on EWC students,” Scipio said. “Instead, administrators are reviewing courses offered by consortium institutions — including General Education core courses and Upper Division courses for juniors and seniors in popular majors like business administration and criminal justice — to determine whether they align with EWC requirements before making them available.”

Oliver said the course-sharing consortium is yet another significant academic improvement Edward Waters College is making.

“Students go to college to obtain a solid education and increase their chances for success, so it is incumbent upon us at Edward Waters to ensure we offer everything we can to assist them,” Oliver said. “I am grateful to work at an institution that realizes the value in course-sharing and is constantly striving to improve academic opportunities.”

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  About Edward Waters College

Edward Waters College (EWC), accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), is a private, historically black, urban college which offers a liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the Christian principles of high moral and spiritual values. EWC was established in 1866 and is an African Methodist Episcopal Church-related institution of learning. It is the first private institution of higher education in the state of Florida.