Benedict College, the historically Black college based in Columbia, South Carolina, will phase out several of its majors in order to prepare students for the 21st Century job market, college leaders said.
The college will eliminate history, religion and philosophy, sociology, political science, transportation and logistics engineering, mathematics and economics due to the programs’ low student enrollment, low graduation numbers and uncertainty on job placement outcomes for students in the majors.
Instead, Benedict will focus on growing the engineering, biology, computer science and cybersecurity disciplines, said Benedict College president and CEO Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis.
“My vision is that Benedict be a best in class private [historically Black college and university] HBCU,” Artis said. “That means we will offer a high-quality education to a diverse population of students in a learner-centered environment that prepares them for the competitive 21st-century job market. Narrowing our focus will allow us to do that.”
Benedict’s latest changes to academic programming came after a year-long review and productivity analysis that analyzed “10-years’ worth of data on the number of students who choose, persist and graduate in each major,” Artis added.
Although leaders have also seen low numbers in the last decade in mathematics, chemistry and physics majors, these departments will remain intact as Benedict officials note that they are vital to the strength of the STEM disciplines and represent core competencies.
Students in the majors to be phased out will have the opportunity to finish their programs of study. As of now, “most faculty will remain with the college – the absence of the major certainly does not obviate the need for faculty teaching in the core disciplines,” Artis said.
