Missouri State University introduces online classes amid COVID-19 crisis

NEW DELHI: Missouri State University, one of the leading universities of the Midwest United States, has announced its plans to start the ‘Fall Semester’ with a hybrid teaching approach for overseas and domestic students from August 17, 2020. Considering the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, the university is making modifications to traditional course delivery formats as a response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Many students around the world are in a state of anxiety and uncertainty due to the updates on the spread of COVID-19. The lifting of travel restrictions is also awaited to allow global flexibility. In the fall of 2019, the university had 694 online sections. This fall, there will be approximately 920 online sections.

The university has configured and laid out a detailed plan with the primary goal in preparing classes for the fall to enhance safety for students, faculty, and staff. Small classes will be moved to larger classrooms to allow for social distancing. Some large classes will be split between two classrooms with the faculty member in one classroom with some students and other students in another classroom participating via the Zoom application.

The university had made the following provisions for international students due to the challenges and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic:

• The university’s International Excellence Scholarship for undergraduate students may be used for online courses
• A reduced fee structure applies for online courses – at less than $3,000 (USD) total per semester for graduate studies and less than $4,000 (USD) per semester for undergraduate studies
• New admission criteria with the waiver of GRE and GMAT exams for graduate applicants
• Waiver of application fee

Speaking about the new options for students, Mr. Brad Bodenhausen, Associate Vice President of International Education and Training, said, “We have explored ways to offer high-quality experiences for both online and seated courses. The Faculty at Missouri State has gained relevant training and intensive experience teaching classes in alternative formats during our current period of online-only delivery. This has been challenging and transformational at the same time. Our goal is to make sure Missouri State degree programs remain accessible and valuable to international students, whether they engage in-person in Springfield, Missouri or virtually from anywhere in the world.”

Although the university moved to online courses for the spring and summer sessions, Missouri State has kept the campus open to provide housing and food to international students who are unable to travel home during this pandemic.