Best Universities Online: Many international universities offer online Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, not to mention blended study options, mixing online with regular on-campus studies. But which are the best universities in the world where you can study a degree online?
How we’ve come up with the best online universities list. Currently, there isn’t an internationally recognized university ranking featuring institutions that offer online degrees. However, some of the universities featured in regular university rankings do offer a lot of great online study options.
So, for our list of best universities online, we picked the universities featured in the QS World Ranking by Top Universities, which also offer 10 or more Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees taught fully online.
To make your search more on best universities online transparent, we included the types of online disciplines offered by the universities. This way, you can decide at a glance if the institution features subjects that you would be interested in.
Some of the most popular subjects include online Medicine degrees, online Business degrees, online Engineering degrees, and online Education degrees.
In order not to list all subjects for each university, we included subjects with fewer programmes under more. You can see the full list of online programmes from the university by checking the school official website.
How to Choose the Best Online University for You
Best Universities Online – The best online college is the one that fits your needs. As you’re evaluating programs, consider how each school’s research, resources and reputation line up with your career interests and goals.
An online program’s accreditation, tuition and flexibility are other factors that come into play. A good place to start your research is the U.S. News rankings of accredited online programs.
Once you narrow down what colleges you’re interested in, make sure the programs are in your ideal format – whether that’s fully online or a hybrid model. This will help you on considering best universities online for you.
Review admission requirements and application fees and compare the availability of financial aid. Look into the school’s costs beyond tuition, including book, course material and online delivery fees, and research its student services and faculty.
Check the Accreditation Status of the School or Program: When choosing an online degree program, prospective students should ensure the school is accredited by an organization recognized by either the U.S. Department of Education or the nonprofit Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
These organizations monitor programs and schools and renew their accreditation every few years.
The Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs contains information from recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies that reported to the U.S. Department of Education.
Information regarding whether an online degree program is accredited is often available on a school’s website.
It is pertinent to know that ‘Accreditation’ is a process that an outside authority conducts to ensure a school or degree program – either on campus, online or a combination of both – meets certain standards of quality and rigor.
Accreditation is a voluntary process, though it has several benefits and essentially validates a program to employers and other institutions.
There are a few types of accreditation, but the main two are regional and national.
Designated regional agencies determine whether a school is regionally accredited. This is a widely recognized type of accreditation. Credits transfer easily between regionally accredited schools. National accreditation is usually less rigorous and awarded to schools of a similar type, like vocational or technical institutions. For-profit online programs are more likely to have national accreditation.
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Credits from a nationally accredited college are not transferable to a regionally accredited college. Students can speak with their academic adviser to learn more about what types of accreditation are expected from employers in a given career field in the best universities online.
Employers may verify that a job candidate’s degree comes from an accredited program, especially if the school name is unfamiliar to them. Should a student decide to change programs, a transfer-friendly school is more likely to accept course credits that come from an accredited institution.
Best universities offering online degrees
- University College London – 20 fully online programmes: online Teaching degrees, online Medicine degrees, and more.
- Columbia University – 12 fully online programmes: online Business degrees, and more.
- University of Edinburgh – 66 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees, online Law degrees, online Social Sciences degrees, and more.
- Johns Hopkins University – 88 fully online programmes: online Engineering degree, online Natural Sciences degrees, online Computer Science degrees, online Business degrees and more.
- The University of Manchester – 32 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees, online Business degrees and more.
- Northwestern University – 12 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees, online Social Sciences degrees and more.
- King’s College London – 25 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees, online Social Sciences degrees, online Law degrees and more.
- University of California, Los Angeles – 10 fully online programmes: online Engineering degrees and more.
- University of Sydney – 28 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees, and more.
- Monash University – 33 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees, Online Teaching degrees and more.
- University of Texas at Austin – 10 fully online programmes: online Engineering degrees, Online Computer Science degrees and more.
- University of Glasgow – 22 fully online programmes: online Education degrees, online Medicine degrees, online Business degrees and more.
- Georgia Institute of Technology – 21 fully online programmes: online Business degrees, online Engineering degrees, and more.
- University of Sheffield – 24 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees and more.
- University of Birmingham – 67 fully online programmes: online Humanities degrees, Online Social Sciences degrees, Online Education degrees, online Design degrees and more.
- University of Leeds – 12 fully online programmes: online Engineering degrees, online Humanities degrees and more.
- University of Nottingham – 15 fully online programmes: online Humanities degrees, and more.
- University of Southampton – 12 fully online programmes: online Medicine degrees, online Computer Science degrees and more.
- Boston University – 39 fully online programmes: online Business degrees, online Natural Sciences degrees, online Social Sciences degrees, and more.
With the above mentioned universities you can choose one for yourself by accessing the school official website and apply.
If you have any question concerning best universities online, do well to use the comments section below as schoolblog team will be available to answer your questions. Cheers!
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