Just one year after the launch of an unprecedented doctorate program through the School of Music, enrollment in Boston University Online’s music courses has grown exponentially this fall with the help of an experienced marketing company to increase enrollment in their online education programs.
“The overwhelming demand for our graduate distance-learning music education degrees has far outpaced our expectations,” Music Education Chairman William McManus said in a university press release. “The response by music educators to earn advanced degrees at BU speaks to the quality of the program and the demand for the degree in the market.”
In 2005, the School of Music began offering master’s and doctorate online degrees in music education; the latter was the first of its kind in the nation. As the programs were established, the School of Music began a partnership with Compass Knowledge Group to get a head start on the new effort.
Enrollment in the year-old music programs has already outpaced other courses offered by BU Online, which began in 2002 with a criminal justice program.
When the music programs started last year, enrollment for the master’s and doctorate online degree programs were 31 and 36 students, respectively. At the start of this year’s fall term, each program had more than 200 enrolled students.
“We help colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals and make their online and distance learning programs successful,” Compass Knowledge Group spokesman Patrick Wampler said.
Compass, a Florida-based company that helps universities develop online education curriculums, assisted BU Online in their marketing and student recruitment.
“We provide proven target-marketing aimed at finding students who will be successful in online-learning programs,” Wampler said. “After marketing, we provide students with all the materials necessary to make informed decisions about the merits of the distance-learning programs we support. With great programs like those at BU, it really makes our job easy.”
According to Distance Learning Office Director Susan Kryczka, the School of Music’s graduate degree programs achieved such instant success because of Compass’ help, but also because of BU’s renown.
“It is a good combination,” she said. “There was a real pent-up need for a quality, well-known university to do this program online.
“[Compass] did the original marketing research to determine what kind of interest there would be nationally in an online music degree program,” Kryczka continued. “They also do all the marketing, so they have quite a bit to do with how successful it’s been. The other part to it, though, is that BU does have a national and international reputation with its music program.”
Now that the School of Music has tapped a previously unexplored field in music education, professionals seeking to continue their post-graduate education will have “access to excellence, from any distance,” as BU Online’s slogan states.
“The majority of the students online are working professionals,” Kryczka said. “We do not target, nor do we expect, nor do we want 18-to-21-year-olds in these programs. Online is really geared toward the working, adult professional folks who want to get a master’s degree, but because of their work and their family obligations or even their location, they are unable to attend school in a traditional setting.”