by Rod Jones
The U.S. News & World Report announced today that Oklahoma City University has one of the best online graduate business programs in the country for the second year in a row. OCU’s Meinders School of Business is ranked 22 in the country, which is the highest in Oklahoma and is one of only three in the state to be ranked in the Best Online Graduate Business Programs (non-MBA).
The rankings assess master's-level business degree programs that are not MBA programs. OCU was specifically recognized for its online offerings in the graduate Energy Management and Energy Legal Studies programs.
“We are very gratified to add yet another recognition to our status as an elite business school,” said business school Dean Steven Agee. “This recognition not only confirms the quality of our programs, but also in how we use the most modern tools to present them. The functionalities of our course delivery are several steps beyond the standard online degree programs.”
The Meinders School of Business at OCU started offering online components of its two graduate-level energy business programs — Master of Science in Energy Management and Master of Science in Energy Legal Studies — soon after they were launched in 2012.
U.S. News ranked the schools on five general categories: student engagement, a measure of how well students can interact with their instructors and fellow classmates; admissions selectivity; peer reputation, which is essentially how much respect the school has achieved among high-ranking academic officials and outside employers; faculty credentials and training; and student services technology.U.S. News selects factors, known as ranking indicators, to assess each program in those categories.
The Meinders School of Business boasts live-streaming video and an instruction-enhancing technology that enable off-campus students across the U.S. to participate — in real time — with the course, the instructor and with their fellow students. The classrooms have electronic SmartBoards, video cameras, monitors and projectors linked together for instructors to utilize a teaching tool called JoinProf.com, which allows students to actively participate in live class discussions from anywhere that has Internet access. Students can watch lectures and ask questions by typing text into a field that is displayed on the professor’s monitor. The professor can also direct questions to the class, and all students can submit responses through the website whether they are physically in the classroom or are far away.
The Meinders School of Business ranks in the top 4.5 percent of business schools in the world and has earned accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The MS in Energy Management and MS in Energy Legal Studies are also the only two graduate energy programs in the United States that are accredited by the American Association of Professional Landmen.
