UK-based major player Cambridge Education Group (CEG) has announced what is to become the largest pathway programme for international students hoping to enter university in the US, through a new partnership with Morrisville State College at the State University of New York (SUNY).
“This is an opportunity like no other for students to experience an authentic American university life in the heart of New York State”
During the year-long University Transfer Programme at ONCAMPUS SUNY, students will earn a normal freshman course load of credits, equipping them to progress straight to the second year of a degree course at a SUNY institution.
They will be able to enter any of SUNY’s 64 college campuses, subject to meeting entry requirements, making it the country’s largest pathway programme in terms of available routes to a degree.
The programme will welcome its first cohort of around 90 students next January, though it will eventually accommodate around 250.
“This is an opportunity like no other for students to experience an authentic American university life in the heart of New York State, while simultaneously building their abilities to be successful at an American Institution,” Fergus Brownlee, CEG’s Chief Executive, commented. “ONCAMPUS SUNY is specifically designed to benefit international students through growth of their university and academic skills as well as to advise students on the US University application process.”
The new partnership is part of CEG’s worldwide expansion and follows six years of business growth, for which it recently received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
It follows a successful move into Boston by ONCAMPUS – part of Cambridge Education Group’s FoundationCampus, which operates in the UK – in September 2012, CEG’s first venture into the States.
Speaking about plans for expansion, Brownlee told The PIE News that CEG will continue to expand “broadly across America”.
“There is huge opportunity in America for us,” he said.
Leslie Crosley, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management at Morrisville State College, said that the college would provide “an ideal setting for international students to acclimate to higher education in the United States”.
“We are proud to offer students a great start and whether they transfer on to other partnering campuses or stay right here at Morrisville, their education will be second to none,” she added.
