UMassOnline Distance Learning Market Leader in Massachusetts

Posted on August 14, 2007 by Jennifer Brady

The results are in from a recent market analysis conducted by Eduventures, the leading information services, research and analysis company for the education market, and they report UMassOnline is the market leader among students in Massachusetts taking online courses. That's good news. For those of you currently trying to make a choice among competitive offerings, knowing that UMassOnline is the market leader on its home turf may have a positive influence on your selection process.

[For purposes of full disclosure, the Eduventures market analysis study was sponsored by UMassOnline.]

But biggest, as measured quantitatively, isn't the only way, or necessarily the best way to find and select the most ideal online education opportunity for you. While the term "biggest" can imply "best," we're all aware of big things that are not very good things. To give a generic example: High carb, low-nutrition chips may be the market leading output of potato-based foods, but that doesn't mean we should favor them exclusively and at the expense of more healthy alternatives. To give a specific example: There are online college level course offerings from national, privately-run corporations that can point to enrollment numbers significantly more impressive, quantifiably-speaking, than ours. But one really has to ask, 'Is the quality there, is the faculty world-class, will the degree carry as much influence in the workplace as one from a long-established, reputable institution like UMass?'

So while we're extremely proud of our rapid growth in enrollment numbers, particularly in Massachusetts where our reputation is best known, I encourage you to examine the reasons why so many online students in this region have made us their first choice. In the end, these qualities are significantly more important and enduring — for us and for you – than our statistical marketshare leadership.