Simon Fraser University (SFU) - university and degrees review
A brief look at the university – Simon Fraser University review and evaluation
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public Canadian university in British Columbia with three campuses, each located in different parts. The main campus is located on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and the other two satellite campuses are found in Vancouver’s Downtown at Harbour Centre and Surrey. In recent years, the downtown campus has expanded to include several other buildings, including the Segal Graduate School of Business, now known officially as SFU Vancouver. Ranked by respected national surveys, such as the 2009 Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, as one of Canada’s top three comprehensive universities for many years, Simon Fraser University is named after Simon Fraser, a famous explorer and North West Company fur trader, who was known for his pioneering spirit.
Simon Fraser University was established in 1965 and presently has more than 32,000 students and 900 faculty members. Simon Fraser University has eight faculties in total and offers more than 100 undergraduate major and joint major programs, as well as 45 graduate programs. Students are mentored by faculty acclaimed for their research and teaching abilities and coached by dedicated advisors and employers in the integrated learning program. In addition, Simon Fraser University graduates enjoy a diverse range of internship opportunities and limitless career choices.
Which university courses are offered here at Simon Fraser University?
Simon Fraser University helps new, returning, graduate, distance education and mature students to fulfill their academic goals and potential by combining vast academic choices and co-op options and in turn, these help them to shape their future and add value to the world.
An example of this would be that students are able to obtain two degrees from different institutions at home and abroad through the dual and double degree programs. Exchange programs and field schools also encourage international and domestic students to share and experience others’ perspectives and worlds. Night and weekend programs enable full-time workers with families to achieve higher education.
Simon Fraser University is organized neatly into eight different faculties:
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Faculty of Business Administration
Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Environment
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Science Radiology
Here at Simon Fraser University, they believe in equipping students with the relevant skills to tackle and solve real-life pressing problems. As such, SFU also offers innovative interdisciplinary degree programs such as the Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics and Master of Science in Population and Public, which are rare in other universities.
You will be pleased to note that distance education is made possible, here at Simon Fraser University. The Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE) at SFU caters to students’ schedule and flexibility can be enjoyed while achieving your academic goals. As such, study could not have been made more accessible. University credits can be earned while meeting your other needs and obligations, be it full-time work, family or sports. SFU has one of Canada's largest distance education centres, with approximately 100 courses offered in a number of academic areas for each term. Courses emphasize twenty-first century technologies and skills, and most importantly, they are credited towards the internationally recognized and respected Simon Fraser University degrees, certificates, and post-baccalaureate diplomas. Of course, more research can be done if you are interested in an education with Simon Fraser University and more details on the array of available courses, both on-campus and online, can be found on the university webpage.
Finance and other important matters
All these valuable information were gleaned from Wikipedia, the college website, and also other helpful sources:Tuition varies based upon course selection, location and the number of courses studied each quarter.
There are various forms of financial aid and other services available, some of which are:
Scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students
Awards for graduate and undergraduate students
Government student loans and grants
Bursaries
Emergency loans
For more information on the different forms of financial aid available at Simon Fraser University, you can look at the university’s official website or contact the officers at the Finance Office.
Why you should study at Simon Fraser University and my own personal recommendations
Here at Simon Fraser University, they believe in helping students to chart their own unique course and destiny through numerous interdisciplinary academic programs and other interesting and enriching student activities. In addition, the wide and diverse range of undergraduate degrees and graduate programs in the university appeals to me. Simon Fraser University takes the welfare of students into consideration, providing flexibility in learning with an established distance learning education put in place. The university advocates academic excellence, promotes learning for all and respects diversity. Of course, the question is whether the course you want is offered at Simon Fraser University, be it in the real or virtual campus. Overall, I would recommend this university as you will be able to learn at your own pace and you will be spoilt for choice regarding the academic programs and student activities. Overall, this could be the university that you are looking for; with its diverse range, it could be the university education you want to help you leap towards academic excellence.
Thanks for reading and I hope that you will be able to find your dream university education at Simon Fraser University, be it on-campus or distance learning. Cheers!
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Simon Fraser University (SFU) - university and degrees review
Canadian Virtual University
Canadian Virtual University online degrees review -
A Brief Look at the Canadian Virtual University
Canadian Virtual University is not a single institution but many institutions collectively forming a partnership of many universities to provide distance learning and online education. Established in 2000, Canadian Virtual University's mission is to promote online education that is accredited and proper from Canadian universities, and hence can be seen as something as a liaison body. Participating universities offer collectively 2500 degrees and more and one quarter of the Canadian Virtual University's degrees are in French, as after all this is a Canadian partnership and a Canadian universities commission.
The partners of the Canadian Virtual University are, according to Wikipedia and also correct as at 2008,
Acadia University, Athabasca University, Cape Breton, Laurentian, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Nipissing, Royal Military College of Canada, Tele - universite, Thompson Rivers, University of Manitoba, and University of New Brunswick.
Collectively they form the Canadian Virtual University, which can be thought of as an online portal for online education that these universities offer. I would say that even if the universities within this consortium or union change, there should be no problem because of the economies of scale associated with the Canadian Virtual University. There are many universities combining their efforts and their collaborative efforts have resulted in many degrees and programmes being offered collectively that each university would have been hard pressed to provide entirely. That is to say, there is real economies of scale here and Canadian Virtual University is a very viable choice in terms of range and scale of degrees offered by the member universities and Canadian Virtual University as a whole.
There are no known controversies because Canadian Virtual University is new and also because it is not a university strictly speaking by itself. There are also no known controversies surrounding the member universities that make up Canadian Virtual University. There are both French and English courses at the Canadian Virtual University, so for non-English speakers this might be a useful choice for a university.
Which courses are offered at the Canadian Virtual University
The whole range of degrees is offered at the Canadian Virtual University:
nondegree credit degrees, bachelors degrees, masters, doctorate, certificate and diplomas.
The Canadian Virtual University allows sorting by language (French or English), by participating university, by subject and by subject/ course level. There are so many possibilities here at the Canadian Virtual University and I feel that this is a very useful and comprehensive portal.
For instance, Acadia University offers:
Certificate in Computer Science and Masters of Education.
While at the same time, Athabasca University offers the following, correct as at 2008 from the Canadian Virtual University website:
Bachelors of administration, Public Administration
Bachelors of arts in the following:
Canadian studies, English, French, General Studies, History, Humanities, IT, Labour Studies, Political Economy, Psychology, Sociology, Women's Studies
Bachelors of commerce in the following:
Accounting, financial services, e-commerce,
and other degrees and certificate programmes in the following fields, too many to mention in a simple single review on the university itself:
science, human science, distance education, management, MBA, project management, health studies, arts, marketing, counselling, career development, French and English, and much much more.
To put it succinctly, the Canadian Virtual University offers the whole gamut of services, degrees, programmes and subjects in both French and English, and hence there should be no problem finding both the level of the course and the subject programme of your choice here at the Canadian Virtual University because of the scope and range. Simply - the range is good and there are many subjects at various levels to choose from.
Finance and other matters at Canadian Virtual University
Unlike US universities and education in the UK and the USA, there seems to be no established loans and scholarship programme for Canadian Virtual University as at 2008. That is not to say that funding is not available, but it is probably available only via the individual universities themselves. I would hazard a guess and say that the usual loans, grants and working aid should be available in addition to scholarships, but there is no mention of any such aid, loans and scholarships on the Canadian Virtual University website as at 2008.
I would say that perhaps you need to find out the grants and aid system available in Canada and for international students studying for a Canadian degree. Data is scarce for this topic, though, so be warned! In summary, while data is hard to find, financial aid should be available for Canadian Virtual University just as US loans and aid are available for students reading an American degree online.
Why you should study there and my personal recommendations
Canadian Virtual University has a few things going for it: there are many participating universities so there is reputation, accreditation, and a range of degrees at all levels. Some universities here on my site have only one or two offerings but this Canadian Virtual University has all the degrees and has many subjects to offer. There is probably everything that you ever wanted to study and at various prices and various costs, and various levels, so there should be no problem at all. There are no known controversies and the website is user friendly and really promotes good online education, distance learning and IT knowledge as well. There are both French and English courses at the Canadian Virtual University, so for non-English speakers this might be a useful choice for a university. There are many good reasons for recommending this university for online education and distance learning!
I would recommend this university because of its range of choices and not because of its particular subjects. So do make your choice and have a good look at the many courses before making your decision! Canadian Virtual University offers many choices and many opportunities in varied fields. More research is needed into the individual universities that you may pick from here. Cheers and thanks, all the best with your education.
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DeVry University Online Degrees
DeVry University Online Degrees review
A brief look at the university
DeVry University and DeVry Institute of Technology are divisions of DeVry Inc. which is a private profit-making educational company in the United States and Canada. DeVry University Online is part of a larger corporation that has 23 major campuses according to Wikipedia and 3 subsidiary institutions and other service centres and institutions in both the United States and in Canada.
The most important field that DeVry University Online and DeVry Inc. offers is in IT, Information Technology and apparently most of the USA's top IT degree holders are from one or another of DeVry's educational institutions. (In 2001, 5 out of 10 producers of IT graduates of IT degree holders in the USA were from DeVry University campuses, according to Wikipedia).
DeVry University Online offers associate degrees to masters degrees, and in varied fields apart from IT, such as professional studies and business administration. Nonetheless the key and major field for this university or series of university campuses is IT and technology. If you are considering an online degree or accreditation or professional certification from an online university in the field of IT, professional studies and business adminstration, DeVry University Online might be a good choice for you to look up and check up on.
DeVry University Online is accredited, of course, and is separated accredited for its engineering programmes or more specifically its engineering technology programmes. These programmes are accredited on a campus by campus basis by both US and Canadian accreditation boards. If you are considering an online degree in the field of engineering technology, you might want to look this up.
It should be noted that DeVry University Online, part of DeVry Inc., has had several controversies, over class sizes, class educational quality, false advertising and more. These controversies over this online degree institution and the claims of the IT departments and IT programmes are available on the internet and I am unsure or unable to make any judgements regarding the status of those lawsuits and claims. From 1995-2007 there have been many court cases and lawsuits against DeVry University Online but as of 2008 there are no known controversies and no known problems so far. More research would be needed in this area, if you are interested in an online degree from DeVry University. Do be warned and do know how to research up on this university and compare it with others.
Which courses are offered at the university
Depending on the websites that you go to, there are many courses offered and many levels, so here is a basic summary of the online degrees and programmes on offer. DeVry University Online offers online programmes in
Business, Accounting, Network Management, Project Management, Information Technology (its reputed strengths are in IT and technology areas), Computer Engineering Technology and Health Information Technology.
These are the key areas of studies offered at DeVry University Online. DeVry University Online offers associate degrees, bachelors degrees and also masters degrees and professional certification. It should be noted that DeVry University Online primarily offers associate and bachelors degrees and that its masters degree programmes pale in comparison to many other online universities offering masters and offering MBAs.
However, just as mentioned in my introduction on DeVry University Online, it is clear that this university does offer a range of courses for IT and that IT is the strength here, if you want an online degree in this field of expertise.
Finance and other matters
There are many ways to finance your education here at DeVry University Online, from loans to scholarships to military assistance for US military personnel. DeVry University apparently does not let financial problems get in the way of your university education, which seems very commendable for an online degree company. DeVry University Online even has a programme that allows you to find a job while studying with them. This is rather unique because there is no university here on this blog (at this time of writing) that offers a job finding service as part of its educational and finance policies. Also, you should note that DeVry University Online's costs and fees are probably higher than other colleges since it is a private university and a profit university, so you might want to consider the costs and also look out and look around for other universities for online degrees that may be cheaper. Research into more universities before making a choice.
Why you should study there and my personal recommendations
According to DeVry University Online, you should study with them and get your online degree with them because they focus on your educational success, they have accelerated learning and accelerated degree programmes, they have workplace oriented learning (which is the selling point of most online degree programmes anyways), and they have a job search support. I think this is one of the more unique elements of DeVry University Online, the job search programme is very unique and rather useful. I would not strongly recommend DeVry University Online to those who are looking for fields outside IT and technology. However, for computer engineering, for technology, for IT and stuff related to this field, DeVry University Online may be a very viable choice for you to get your online degree and certification from. Perhaps more research into related IT and technology degrees might be warranted before doing anything further. Cheers!
(Side note regarding DeVry University: DeVry University has many campuses around the USA and Canada and might also be worth visiting physically for those who have the time and inclination, but not for the rest of us. Also it is based in both the USA and Canada, quite unlike other more US based firms and companies. Nontheless for online degrees, it doesn't really matter where the university is based or where the educational company is based, because of the nature of online degrees and distance learning and education.)
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