By HDN Staff
The publicity about the program review at the university may have caused some people to lose track of some good things and improvements happening at the university.
Improvements to the existing technical centers and an entirely new technical center are in the works.
The college of education is working to receive its first accreditation by NCATE, and would be the first university under NCATE's new standards for the new millennium.
The electronic engineering technology department has also received its first national accreditation for its two-year program, and is working on receiving accreditation for its four-year program. The program is also proposed to be revised to be a computer engineering technology program, to increase the marketability of its graduates.
The university has applied for the second stage of the PT-3 grant. The first stage of the grant is already in place to improve new teachers' integration of technology into the classroom.
The university has been expanding it's regional standing, with more collaboration in place with community colleges and more and more distanced learning going on in Great Falls and Lewistown and the possibility of more on the horizon.
Even the program review could result in benefits for the university. The elimination of programs with low enrollment and graduation rates allows the proposal of new or modified programs, such as a psychology degree and the computer technology degree. These programs could better meet the needs of modern students and possibly attract more students to MSU-Northern, reversing the trend of enrollment reduction in the last few years.
Programs may be cut, but the college on the hill is still there. It may be even better, and it's working to improve all the time.
