Important Update on the University’s Academic Structure for Students

Dear Drexel Students,

I am writing to share recent updates on how we are stepping up our efforts to strengthen Drexel's ability to attract and retain top students like you and secure our future as a leading student-centered, experience-driven research university.

As part of these efforts, the University Advisory Committee (UAC) on Academic Structure was charged with reviewing Drexel’s operations to ensure the University best meets the needs of students and remains at the forefront of higher education amid an ever-changing environment. After months of thoughtful research and analysis, including review of internal and external data, as well as surveys and discussions with students, faculty, professional staff and partners, the UAC delivered a report with five recommendations in June 2023. Above all else, these recommendations prioritize student success, flexibility and well-being, while retaining differentiators, such as the Drexel Co-op, that have set us apart for more than 100 years.

Reflecting input from hundreds of internal and external Drexel stakeholders, those five recommendations were:

• Establish consistency in structure and policies to create organizational alignment and facilitate efficiency and effectiveness;
• Institute core competency requirements for all undergraduate students to support greater curricular alignment and flexibility and to provide differentiating skills that define a Drexel education;
• Transition to a semester-based calendar for all academic programs to support student success and align with external partners and institutions;
• Strategically and operationally affiliate similar academic disciplines and colleges to create clearer pathways, further student success, and better support collaboration across units; and
• Use community spaces to support academic activities, enhance collaboration, and improve the student experience.

Feedback on the recommendations was solicited through town halls, surveys and focus groups. Feasibility teams then assessed the viability of the first four recommendations.

Based on these assessments, I have embraced the UAC recommendations, with some refinements.

While more assessment is needed before I make final decisions in some areas, I strongly believe that these recommendations present an incredibly exciting opportunity for our community to come together in collaborative and integrated ways like never before, strengthening the academic experience and bolstering our University’s reputation as a leader in experiential education, applied research, and partnership in an urban and global context.

I encourage you to read detailed information about the recommendations at this link. Please note that larger-scale recommendations related to the calendar and core competencies will take several years to adopt and become fully operational.  

Below I want to highlight detailed information from these recommendations that will benefit the student experience, explain how we will move forward based on the findings of the feasibility teams, and when changes will take place. 

Academic Calendar
The academic calendar feasibility team reaffirmed the benefits of moving to semesters but with additional considerations, including a redesign of the curriculum and inclusion of core competencies.

A shift of this magnitude will take approximately three years to plan and implement thoughtfully; we will start by mapping out a path that features semesters and maintains the option for six-month co-ops while providing students with greater flexibility and more choices to design their paths based on desired learning objectives and outcomes. Those choices would include:

• the six-month co-op, with up to a total of three co-ops;  
• significantly more study abroad opportunities; 
• shorter internship options; and
• undergraduate research experiences.

Based on the analysis of the feasibility team, shifting to semesters will enable Drexel to be more adaptable and responsive to the needs of the broadest cross-section of students we want to enroll. Furthermore, based on the experience of peer institutions such as Northeastern and Rochester Institute of Technology that have transitioned successfully from quarters to semesters, I am reassured that moving to semesters can significantly improve recruiting, retention, and the student experience at Drexel.

At the same time, I want to ensure that we will retain our co-op partners’ full support and participation. We have spent decades building relationships with our co-op employers who rely on Drexel and our talented students. I also want to ensure that the benefits of moving to semesters will far outweigh the financial and qualitative costs. If these concerns are satisfactorily addressed, I will support this recommendation.

Consistency and Changing Majors
In line with our focus on the student experience and the recommendation on accountability, consistency, and effectiveness, we will also analyze policies and practices that create barriers for students who want to change majors and recommend changes that make this more feasible. While this effort is tied to other UAC recommendations, we will begin to chart a path forward now.

Affiliating Colleges, Schools, and Disciplines
The need to make Drexel more collaborative and navigable for students and all other stakeholders has driven the UAC's recommendation that colleges, schools, and disciplines be better aligned. 

The concept of affiliating more colleges and schools together is powerful. After examining a pilot grouping of three colleges and schools, the feasibility team has endorsed grouping more colleges and schools where such alignments can enable student flexibility, support enrollment and research and better serve our partners and communities. I have asked the Provost to explore further the costs and benefits of these affiliations and will base my final decision on his recommendations.

For now, we will move forward with the recommendation to integrate the pilot grouping of the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, and the First-Year Exploratory Program of Goodwin College of Professional Studies. However, Goodwin College will maintain its connection with the LeBow College of Business for the time being, allowing us to develop a new strategy that better positions Goodwin to compete in the continuing and adult education markets. 

In addition, to better support our clinical practice and instruction, Drexel will begin to bring together our clinical sites at the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions, and Arts and Sciences under a new clinical structure: Drexel Health.This structure will also incorporate the clinics at Salus University after the merger of our two institutions is completed. Not only will establishing Drexel Health strengthen compliance and improve administrative efficiency, but it will also promote greater collaboration among all our students and faculty in the health professions — creating more research opportunities and, importantly, better patient outcomes.

Core Competencies
We will also begin developing core competenciesthat align with Drexel's strategic differentiators and distinct, longstanding strengths, or what the feasibility team calls "Drexel's big things." Integrating competencies that these differentiators inform across all curricula will give every Drexel student a shared experience and the preparation to thrive. The areas for these core competencies are research and innovation, partnerships with organizations and businesses, civic and urban engagement, and global engagement. The team also proposed establishing other essential competencies to ensure our graduates are proficient in critical career skills and capacities, such as AI and entrepreneurship.

Community Spaces
The recommendation to enhance community spaces is already being implemented through the execution of our Campus Master Plan to produce a more vibrant physical environment at Drexel. That vision is reflected in these exciting projects: renovated and expanded Bentley and Kelly residence halls; the new Life Sciences Laboratory and Research building being developed at 32nd and Cuthbert Streets, which will provide much-needed space for the College of Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems; the construction of a mid-block crossing in the 3200 block of Chestnut to improve pedestrian safety; and the opening of the Myers green space this fall.

In Closing
As we move toward implementing the UAC's recommendations, our priority and primary focus is you, our students. This work will enable us to better position Drexel to respond to the growing needs of our students and provide them with the best experience in all they choose to do while at the University. This is a long-term effort with many moving parts. Over the next several months we will be working to build out resources and timelines and will keep you updated on the progress.

Sincerely,
John Fry
President