Educational Philosophy
University of Holistic Theology serves adults who are looking for non-traditional degrees offers students the opportunity to apply for and receive transfer of previously earned college credits/courses toward their online degree requirements. We also provide the unique opportunity for students to make a formal application and request for evaluation of career/work/life experiences to receive course equivalents for required courses in the curriculum. Students may earn up to 50% of their degree via transfer of previously earned credits/courses and/or via formal application for experiential credits.. An applicant must have established a career focus and demonstrated a capacity to benefit from higher education to be admitted. Therefore, the curriculum has been designed to expand, enrich, and integrate the knowledge and awareness of these individuals. Admission is continuous and programs are designed for self-paced learning at a distance.
The curriculum design is based on the following assumptions:
Individuality
1. Each person is unique; each individual’s background provides him or her with a personal array of abilities and interests which is different from any other’s.
2. An individual’s life experience is most satisfying and productive if he or she can acknowledge and develop this personal pattern of abilities and interests.
3. Education can and should be based on, draw forth, and facilitate the development of that individuality.
4. It is a proper role of higher education to enhance and refine this process for individuals, so that the individual can expand professional productivity and acceptance, and make personally meaningful career developments.
Integration
5. There are many aspects to an individual’s life experience; one’s interest and activity at times focus on considerations of health, family, recreation, spirituality, etc.
6. All aspects of an individual’s life experience can be integrated so that they mutually support and facilitate one another.
7. Education can and should help an individual develop this personal integration and support.
8. It is a proper role of higher education to challenge the individual to develop more effective and comprehensive integration of body, mind, and spirit, which are the significant dimensions of personal life experience, so that the individual can develop more clear and personally relevant goals and a lifestyle which is more satisfying, healthful, and effective in supporting the individual’s movement toward those goals.
Independent Study
9. The potential sources of ideas and information relevant to an individual’s interests may be many and varied.
10. An individual’s activities can be most satisfying and productive if that person can investigate these sources effectively.
11. Education can, and should, provide guidance in making such investigations broad in scope and efficient in process.
12. It is a proper role of higher education to stimulate, guide, and acknowledge independent study, and intellectual and experiential inquiry which is self-designed and self-motivated, so that the individual can engage in self-designed and self-motivated intellectual and experiential inquiry which is comprehensive in its sources, efficient in its methods, integrated in its personal involvement, and effective in its outcome.
Accreditation in the USA
Accreditation is a status granted to an educational institution or a program that has been found to meet or exceed stated criteria of educational quality. In the United States accreditation is voluntarily sought by institutions and programs, and is conferred by non-governmental bodies.
Accreditation has two fundamental purposes: to assure the quality of the institution or program, and to assist in the improvement of the institution or program. Accreditation, which applies to institutions or programs, is to be distinguished from certification and licensure which apply to individuals.
American universities are authorized at state level, however universities holding what is known as "Regional Accreditation" are given exemption from meeting the requirements of each state in which they operate. The US federal government's Department of Education (DoEd) also recognizes those universities holding Regional Accreditation as being eligible for federal student financial assistance. This is also true of courses that meet the criteria of professional accrediting bodies, and of those institutions/organizations holding accreditation of the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education Training Council (DETC).
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recognizes the following regional accrediting bodies for colleges and universities in the United States; it is these bodies that confer "Regional Accreditation":
• Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
• New England Association of Schools and Colleges
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
• Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Institutes that do not have such accreditation can exist legally by meeting the state requirements, and are known as "state licensed" or "state approved" universities. States also exempt institutes with a religious charter that offer theological degree programs.
American universities holding Regional Accreditation will normally only accept students or faculty from similarly accredited universities, or holding qualifications from US DoEd-recognized accrediting bodies. DETC-accredited qualifications can also be acceptable, but this may vary program by program.
Many, if not most, professional bodies and states will only allow licenses to practice a profession to those holding qualifications from universities that are accredited by recognized accrediting bodies. This is due to the existence of un-recognized (by the US DoEd) accrediting bodies, which can in some cases give rise to misleading statements or even fraudulent activities.
So, in the US environment, your choice is between:
(i) an institute or course with accreditation recognized by the US DoEd (i.e. the six regional bodies and the Accrediting Commission of the DETC)
(ii) a state-licensed or state-approved (as in California) university meeting state requirements but not holding recognized accreditation
(iii) a university with a religious exemption from state licensing
(iv) an institute/organization with other than the above.
Selection of an American program should be made carefully by the prospective student, depending on the use to which the earned qualification will be put.
Many students find that Non-traditional Non-Secular programs can meet their objectives, since costs are low in comparison, programs are highly accessible (usually with no residency requirements) and courses tend to be vocationally-biased towards "degree completion" for adults, including credits for work experience.
