University of Guam President Robert Underwood joined College of the Marshall Islands President Kenneth Woodbury Jr. and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Don Hess in Majuro to sign the first “articulation agreement” between the two schools on Thursday.
Underwood said in an interview Friday that over the next several years, he hopes to double the 12 Marshall Islands students currently studying at UOG.
“It helps UOG (to have students from the Marshall Islands) as much as it helps the students,” he said.
The articulation agreement allows students from the Majuro-based college to transfer all their college credits earned at the College of the Marshall Islands to UOG.
“Our new articulation agreement with the University of Guam offers our students the opportunity to continue their education in Micronesia,” said Woodbury Friday. “The idea is to keep it local. When our students leave the Marshall Islands to get a college degree, they come back with enhanced skills for nation building.”
Both schools are United States accredited through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. This is the second articulation agreement the College of the Marshall Islands has signed. The first was with the University of Hawaii Hilo campus.
Underwood said aside from making it easier for Marshall Islanders to transfer to UOG after they have attained two-year degrees at home to continue toward their bachelors in Guam, UOG is exploring options for a bachelor’s program in nursing in collaboration with the existing associate of science nursing program at the College of the Marshall Islands. The College of the Marshall Islands program provides training to future nurses from the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
“Students could do three years here (Majuro) and one year at UOG,” he said. “It’s a fully accredited program.”
He touted UOG’s nursing program as having an unusually high graduation rate. “Last year, all the students in the program graduated,” he said. “It was unprecedented.”
He credits this performance to having a rigorous academic and practical clinical training program and “a healthy student-teacher ratio.”
During his visit, Underwood also met with principals and teachers at public schools who attend UOG-sponsored summer courses in the Marshall Islands. He said he wanted to connect with ongoing students taking UOG courses to ensure that they are on track for completing their degrees.
