A Review of Corllins University's Integration of Prior Learning Credits into Degree Programs

Prior learning is a term widely used to describe acquired knowledge, talents, or skills in a particular field. In educational sector, prior learning is now used to earn credits and even degrees. Some colleges and universities are accepting prior learning and giving students credit for their acquired knowledge. This new concept was introduced to make higher education accessible to more people by cutting the costs of the courses a student has already learned from unconventional learning. There is a debate among educationists about the quality of prior learning based credits and degrees. Those who are in favor of giving prior learning broader recognition are proving their point by making their assessment procedures comprehensive and transparent.

Corllins University is an online university that offers full time online learning programs. The university is around for quite some time now and has a global alumni and a large student body. Corllins University is also among the few universities (online or conventional) that offer prior learning credit transfer to students. Considering the fact that offering this credits transfer facility, universities are actually giving up course fees and from a business point of view that is not a good thing for the university but a great help to students. Many argue that the course fee is probably the reason that many other universities are reluctant to provide prior learning credits transfer to their students.

Universities have different criteria to assess and give credit for prior learning. Depending on their accreditation, some universities have more thorough and difficult procedure than others. For example Corllins University has adapted a middle approach by making their prior learning assessment procedure more comprehensive while keeping it simple. Corllins University offers prior learning credits to students who have military experience and training, national testing programs, learning while working and vocational training certificates. Students can easily prove all these experiences and trainings by providing relevant documents and certificates.

Corllins University then allows their students to skip courses and save money and time. Some other universities offer students to skip the course but they will have to pay the fees for the course, this only saves student’s time but they will have to pay for it. The question that comes to the mind is that why Corllins University would do that and not charge for the skipped courses?

The answer is that Corllins University works on a strategy where it aims to keep the cost of education lower to attract more students. Accepting life experience credits increases their appeal and they successfully attract students from all parts of the world. The best argument in favor of prior learning is that it reduces the cost of higher education significantly and makes it accessible to students from less developed parts of the world.

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