Another Advance for the 3-Year Degree

Johnson & Wales University has become the latest institution to gain approval to offer bachelor’s degrees that require significantly fewer than 120 credits—and the first to win that approval from the New England Commission of Higher Education. Johnson & Wales said the four degrees it would begin offering next fall —computer science, criminal justice, graphic design and hospitality management—would each require 90 to 96 credits, and that students would take the same general education courses and the same courses in their major as those seeking its standard degrees. The big difference is that learners in the accelerated programs “will count workplace experiences gained during the academic year and summers toward degree requirements and will take fewer or no elective classes.”