International University
of Professional Studies

Awards degrees on the basis of time served and credit earned.

Awards degrees on the basis of competence and performance skills.

Bases degree requirements on a medieval formula that calls for some generalized education and some specialized education.

Bases degree requirements on an agreement between the student and the faculty, aimed at helping the student achieve his or her career, personal, or professional goals.

Awards the degree when the student has taken the required number of credits in the required order.

Awards the degree when the student’s actual work and learning reach certain previously agreed-upon levels.

Considers the years from age 18-22 the appropriate time to earn a first degree.

Assumes learning is desirable at any age, and that degrees should be available to people of all ages.

Considers the classroom to be the primary source of information and the campus the center of learning.

Believes that some sort of learning can and does occur in any part of the world.

Believes that printed texts should be the principal learning resource.

Believes that the range of learning resources is limitless, from the daily newspaper to personal interviews, online material, and world travel.

Faculty must have appropriate credentials and degrees.

Faculty are selected for competency and personal qualities in addition to credentials and degrees.

Credits and degrees are based primarily on mastery of course content.

Credits and degrees add a consideration of learning how to learn, and the integration of diverse fields of knowledge.

Cultivates dependence on authority through prescribed curricula, required campus residence, and required classes.

Cultivates self-direction and independence through planned independent study, both on and off campus.

Curricula are generally oriented toward traditional disciples and well-established professions.

Curricula reflect a range of individual students’ needs and goals, and are likely to be problem-oriented, and world-oriented.

Aims at producing “finished products”- students who are done with their education and ready for the job market.

Aims at producing lifelong learners, capable of responding to their own evolving needs and those of society over an entire lifetime.