Education department auditing WGU

cyberguypr

The Education Department's inspector general is auditing Western Governors U over the faculty role in its competency-based programs.

In its annual work plan, the inspector general said it would “continue our work to determine whether Western Governors University complied with the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and selected regulations governing institutional eligibility, program eligibility, disbursements and return of Title IV aid.”

A spokeswoman for the inspector general said Wednesday that the watchdog agency is auditing the university, and that the audit is ongoing. It's not clear how much risk the inquiry poses to Western Governors, but university officials and advocates for digital forms of education are taking it seriously.The inspector general’s interest in competency-based education so far has centered on federal definitions of what constitutes “distance education” versus correspondence courses.

Full story: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/15/education-departments-inspector-generals-high-stakes-audit-western-governors-u

aderon

colemic wrote: »

On page 3 of the document in the link: 'It is incumbent on the institution to demonstrate that students are not left to 'educate themselves,' a chief characteristic of correspondence programs.'

My guess is that sentence sums up their concerns about WGU in a nutshell.

Ahh that makes sense. TBH, as long as being a "correspondence program" doesn't affect its accreditation or reputation, then I could care less. From what I understand, that distinction of being a "correspondance program" could affect government funding and that's about it.

"Correspondence course: (1) A course provided by an institution under which the institution provides instructional materials, by mail or electronic transmission, including examinations on the materials, to students who are separated from the instructor. Interaction between the instructor and student is limited, is not regular and substantive, and is primarily initiated by the student. Correspondence courses are typically self-paced."

Source: eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations