Online Degree

An online degree is an academic degree that can be earned primarily or entirely through the use of an internet connected computer rather than attending college in a traditional campus setting. Improvements in technology, the increasing use of the internet worldwide, and the need for people to have flexible school schedules while they are working have led to a proliferation of online colleges that award associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.




Accreditation of Online Degree:.  
The goal of educational accreditation, according to the United State Department of Education,  is to ensure that programs provided by institutions of higher education meet acceptable levels of quality. ENQA, the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, describes the role of external quality assurance in education as one that combines both accountability for the reassurance or the public and an objective and developmental role for enhancing quality in institutions. In the area of online education, it is important to avoid unaccredited diploma mills that offer fake degrees, as these are unfortunately common. Students seeking valid online degree should obtain proof of accreditation from an appropriate national or regional accrediting body.

In the United States, online colleges  that are fully accredited have earned a widely recognized  form of university accreditation from one of six regional accreditation boards. Each of six geographic regions of the United States has one of these boards a non-governmental agency that oversees and accredits degree-granting institutions headquartered in their areas. The U.S. Higher Education Accreditation recognize the Distance Education and Training Council as the accrediting organization for distance learning institutions and education programs that offer online degrees. However, DETC accreditation is commonly viewed as inferior to regional accreditation and  regionally accredited schools may refuse to accept transfer credit from DETC accredited schools more often than they would refuse credit from other regionally accredited schools.
Outside of the United States, other national and regional standard of accreditation hold, and may be highly supportive of distance education. For example, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, or Open University of Catalonia, has been accredited by AQU, the Agency for Quality Assurance in the Catalan University System, since its inception in 1995, and has been called a significant success story as the world's first continuous, and sustainable, virtual university. Similarly, in Ireland, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council has acccredited a number of online colleges and degrees, e.g. Setanta College.

Quality of Learning Online:.
Online education enables individuals living with physical disabilities, busy full time employees, soldiers, those living abroad, and stay at home parents, among others to have access to accredited higher education.
The perception of the quality of online degrees compared to on campus degrees varies. While most major online colleges are regionally accredited, the public estimation of their quality is in dispute. A national survey of hiring representatives showed that a preference  toward on campus degrees exists. In some instances, hiring executives were unwilling to consider applicants with an online degree. Some experts argue that degrees in certain fields are more accepted online than in others while some programs are less suited for online only schools.

A survey by the Distance Education and Training Council found that 100% of employers who responded felt that distance education program graduated performed better on the job as result of their degree. Additionally employers felt that an employee receiving a distance education degree compared favorably  in terms of knowledge learned to someone with a resident degree. On the other hand, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported in January 2007 on a vault Inc. survey that found 55 percent of employers preferred traditional degrees over online ones.