About Jones International University

Lifelong learning is no longer discretionary but essential for people to scramble to bolster their credentials in a volatile global workplace.

Glenn R. Jones, author
Cyberschools: An Education Renaissance

The Jones Difference – The Gold Standard

Over 15 years ago, JIU's founder and Chancellor, Glenn R. Jones not only pioneered the first fully online accredited university, but he established the "Gold Standard" for technology-driven education. When a student elects to attend JIU, he or she is investing in the highest value, highest quality education he or she can obtain from a fully online institution.

The design premise behind a JIU educational program is to be mindful of future global economic changes and how those changes will translate into the skill sets employers will need. The Jones' Gold Standard means that students graduating from JIU come from a lifelong learning environment that consistently maintains the highest teaching and global learning standards while remaining flexible to changing education drivers: student workplace requirements, student learning modalities, student diversities and advancing communication technologies.

This keen attention to understanding what students will need to succeed in the future workplace is what sets JIU apart from others which at the core, only issue educational degrees en masse.

JIU has enabled students worldwide to earn their higher education degrees from its Centennial, Colorado institution which sits against a breathtaking backdrop of the majestic Rocky Mountains.

Lifelong Learning with JIU

At the dawn of the Internet, Glenn R. Jones, JIU's founder and Chancellor, foresaw the potential for fusing education with the communications revolution. Despite huge opposition from education traditionalists, Mr. Jones started Jones International University (JIU®) in 1993 - the first university anywhere to exist 100% online.

Five years later, JIU became the first fully online university in the U.S. to be regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission; a member of North Central Association (www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org). Since then, JIU has continued to develop and expand its degree programs - all of which are designed to meet the needs of busy professionals electing to be "lifelong learners."

Why Accreditation?

The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by higher ed institutions meets acceptable levels of quality. There are two types of accreditation recognized by the U.S. Department of Education: regional accreditation and national accreditation.

Harvard, Michigan State, UCLA and JIU are regionally accredited and are considered traditional colleges or universities. There are six regional accrediting bodies, each responsible for maintaining educational quality assurance. One of the six is the North Central Association of which JIU is a member.

National accreditation generally applies to what can be considered a vocational college or institution where the primary focus is on a specialization, such as fine arts, trade or technology.

Students find greater ease and acceptance when they transfer credits from a regionally accredited school to another regionally accredited school. Often it's not as easy when transferring credits from a nationally accredited school to one that's regionally accredited.

The Jones Difference – Unique to You

The learning experience that JIU offers is unique to each student... on purpose. Over the years, we've put a lot of thought into optimizing the time and costs that our students invest in their education. It's not just the breadth and depth of our programs, but how we've designed the courseware for online suitability and sustaining learning discipline - all with the intention of enabling a student to stay on track for achieving his or her academic and professional goals.

Upon admission to JIU, students partner with a personal Academic Service Counselor (ASC) who will help a student create a unique learning path toward earning his or her degree. The ASC stays in partnership with that student until the academic degree is earned. Every JIU student has a "personal trainer," so it's no wonder that 98% of our students recommend JIU.

Once registration for courses has occurred, a JIU student begins their first course immediately engaging with JIU's faculty of world class professors hailing from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Oxford and MIT. It's more than a likely occurrence that a JIU student can interact with a professor who resides in South Africa, but is doing business in Japan. In fact, if we combine our international faculty and student bases, over 144 countries are represented in one campus. No local online or ground school can extend its students' reach and exposure that far, every day.

JIU's aim is to make a student's learning as enriching and convenient as possible. JIU programs include job-relevant project-based units that can be applied directly into a student's employment function. Peer Forums existing in each course enable students to experience strategic and philosophical discussions with one another. For convenience, JIU students have online access to JIU's e-global library® to conduct their research, as well as access to the JIU bookstore from which to purchase syllabus texts and materials.

Often JIU students return to earn the next level degree in business or in education. Whether one earns one degree with JIU or several, the Total Professional Advantage™ program is open to all JIU students interested in leveraging professional and career advancement assistance. You've invested in a higher education degree, and as a JIU graduate, you have access to resources that will help you to market yourself toward higher earning power in today's knowledge economy.

Your success is our urgent concern.™