EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine May 2019 | Page 24

EMBRY-RIDDLE:
WORLDWIDE ACCESS TO HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION
T
by Brigitte Hoarau
oday’s higher education conversations often center on
“access.” With the recognition that most contemporary
careers require a college education comes the responsibility
need. More specialized careers require even more limitations on
higher education offerings.
Embry-Riddle, which trained aviators in Ohio and Florida since
for institutions to provide that education to a rapidly diversified before World War II, saw this issue before it even came into common
beyond the traditional elite: high-achieving, recent high school Embry-Riddle Worldwide was born. Seeking to address the first of
population. That means that colleges and universities must reach
graduates who have the means to relocate, pay high tuition costs,
and dedicate at least four years of their adult lives to full-time
college. But today’s career-seekers are exponentially more diverse
than the careers they seek. Among them are men and women
with families, world-travelers, trained active servicemen desiring
promotions or second careers, or veterans looking to continue or
change careers as civilians. Traditional higher education institutions
often lose students to these factors and many others over which they
have no control, so that “access” to education that leads to careers
is often defined by much narrower concepts than potential students
focus. By opening its first campus at Fort Rucker Army Base in 1970,
these “access” needs: that of providing access to mobile military
servicemen who want a Bachelor’s degree but are often relocated
around the globe, the Worldwide campus began partnering with
military bases to establish campuses. Already known as the
world’s premier aviation and aerospace university, Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University followed its students’ needs into traditional
campus establishments in Daytona Beach, FL, and Prescott, AZ.
The precedent caught on like wildfire. From its start, according
to current Embry-Riddle Worldwide Chancellor, John R. Watret,
PhD., the institution took its aviation-centered specialty to more of
Flight line operations on Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach
Campus, adjacent to the Daytona Beach International
Airport. Photo: Embry-Riddle/Nicole Hester
| 24 | EVOLVE BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE