Purpose

The Committee on Distance, Continuing, and Executive (DCE) Education was appointed by the provost, Dr. David Colburn, and began its work on March 17, 2000. The charge was to provide an overview of current activities in Distance, Continuing, and Executive education at the University of Florida, and to recommend an organizational structure that would clearly and effectively locate responsibility for management, budget, operations, coordination, policy, and strategic plan development, all with attention to our goal of becoming one of the top 10 public universities in the country.

The committee was asked to meet with university officials involved in coordinating existing DCE education. Key issues of institutional mission and the relationship of that mission to ongoing and anticipated activities in DCE education were to be considered including information technology (IT).

EXISTING CENTRAL DCE ACTIVITIES

The major central administrative entities involved in current DCE activities at the University of Florida are:

The Division of Continuing Education (DOCE)
Florida Campus Direct (FCD) operating out of the office of Instructional Resources (OIR)
The University of Florida office of Executive Education (UFExec)

Division of Continuing Education (DOCE)

The Division of Continuing Education operates at the University of Florida-and at other State University System institutions-under specific Florida statutes (Appendix A). Organizationally, the dean of DOCE reports to the provost. DOCE has been in operation for many years and offers credit and noncredit courses and programs to a wide variety of on- and off-campus students. DOCE has an annual operating budget of some $950,000 in the Education and General (E&G) category. With an annual revenue of $14,000,000, it is by far the largest of any of the SUS continuing education divisions. A sizable number of administrative workers (approximately 39 lines) support the division.

In addition to managing continuing education courses, DOCE also plays the role of a broker, facilitator, and banker for "off-book" distance education activities. For example, degree programs such as the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.), and the Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) are fiscally managed via DOCE. A complete list of DOCE activities can be found in Appendix B.

University of Florida office of Executive Education (UFExec)

The office of Executive Education was created in 1998 to address a growing need for specialized nondegree, noncredit education and training. The overall mission of UFExec was to enhance the visibility of UF in the international business education marketplace and to engage the UF enterprise in a potentially profitable venture. A major partnership with the Conference Center of the Americas (the Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables) was involved in the initial planning. While some encouraging progress has been made in the past three years, UFExec activities have not developed a stable program. With the recent resignation of the director of the program, the remaining UFExec functions and personnel lines have been moved under DOCE. This latter event occurred at about the same time that the DCE review committee began its work.

Florida Campus Direct (FCD)

Florida Campus Direct essentially consists of a percentage of effort of the director of the office of Instructional Resources. The director of OIR also functions as director of FCD. She serves in an advisory role to the provost's office. A major function in this regard is to provide budgetary review and development to academic units by offering assistance for "off-book" courses and programs delivered online or through other distance education mechanisms. Academic units are responsible for the quality of programs. DOCE handles the fiscal operations as authorized by the Florida Administrative Code.

Redundancy exists between certain functions of DOCE and FCD. The following excerpt from A Memorandum of Understanding for Assigning Correspondence and Executive Education Credit Courses and Degree Programs Responsibilities Between DOCE and FCD provides useful illustration:

Responsibilities for correspondence and executive education academic credit courses and programs are shared by DOCE and FCD and the originating academic unit.

DOCE has fiscal responsibility for such courses and programs and the academic unit/faculty person has responsibility for the academic domain.

FCD shares the coordination and delivery implementation responsibilities with DOCE as follows:

All credit correspondence courses and programs are assigned to DOCE. Courses and programs are deemed correspondence if text delivery is used rather than direct faculty instruction.

DOCE is responsible for all executive education credit courses or degree programs delivered within the University of Florida's service area. Courses and programs are deemed executive education if the students are not in residence.

FCD is responsible for all executive education credit courses and degree programs in which a substantial part of the instruction takes place outside the University's local service area and the courses/programs are not part of the Enrollment plan."

The development of DCE education materials is expensive and time consuming, requiring a commitment on the part of the faculty and a demand on the infrastructure of the university. There is a clear need for overall coordination and consistent academic oversight to ensure the quality of programs offered under the "UF-brand."