North Park University announced today that it is adding a new major in applied computer science (BA) to provide students with expertise in high-growth areas where employers are searching for talent.
The hybrid program will be taught both on North Park’s campus and online via a partnership with the Lower Cost Models Consortium (LCMC) and Rize Education. The LCMC is a strategic partnership of private colleges and universities nationwide, collaborating with Rize Education to provide access to a cutting-edge curriculum that prepares students for successful careers.
The involved parties directly collaborated with Google to build computer science courses that will develop graduates to fill essential and understaffed roles across tech industries. With employment in the field expected to grow at roughly 22% over the next decade (nearly three times the national average), graduates will qualify for increasingly valuable jobs in Illinois and nationwide. Project-based and portfolio-building classes will help students produce impressive resumes before graduation and hone skills that hiring managers demand.
North Park Provost Michael Carr said, “Our faculty and academic leadership have worked creatively to develop this program, which will provide our students with opportunities to acquire skills for the growing field. Combined with our liberal arts core, this new major will prepare students for lives of significance and service.”
Formed in 2015, the LCMC is a national consortium of over 130 fully accredited nonprofit colleges and universities. LCMC members are committed to collaborating to address the challenges of increasing costs in higher education by implementing innovative programs and reducing institutional expenses for these programs to pass savings along to students. In this way, the LCMC hopes to develop new models of higher education that benefit students while contributing to the sustainability of accredited, nonprofit, four-year institutions.