Senator Collins Commends UMPI Competency-Based Education Program

Press Release

The Senate Education Committee held a hearing today titled, "Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Access and Innovation." This was the third in a series of hearings the Committee is holding to examine key higher education policy issues in preparation for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA).

During the hearing, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Education Committee, discussed the University of Maine at Presque Isle's Competency-Based Education (CBE) Bachelor of Business Administration degree program, the first public university in New England to offer this kind of program.

"The goal of this program is to give individuals with some college experience and credit a pathway to complete their degree," said Senator Collins. "With 53 percent of the students who have enrolled in this competency-based program being between the ages of 40 and 65 years old, the University of Maine at Presque Isle is successfully reaching an older population and giving them the skills that they need to pursue higher education."

Senator Collins pressed the panel on what types of reforms could be made to the Higher Education Act to ensure CBE programs maintain their high quality.

Dr. Deborah Bushway, a consultant for the Competency-Based Education Network at Northwestern Health Sciences University, emphasized the importance of collecting data to ensure CBE programs maintain high standards.

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