In 2001, Fairleigh Dickinson became the first traditional university to require every undergraduate to take online courses. President J. Michael Adams says the program is driven by two main goals:

“1) The Internet is a fundamental learning tool and all students must be equipped to use it effectively.

“2) The Internet can be used to bring the world to campus. Through our Global Virtual Faculty™, through global resources and through networks to other countries and cultures, our students can be introduced to a wide spectrum of views and can connect to new worlds.”

Students take one online course per 32 credits of study.

The first course for freshmen is The Global Challenge, where students investigate challenges to humankind such as environmental degradation, modern warfare and deadly diseases. Students gain perspectives from around the world, learn how to evaluate information on the Internet and pay special attention to the scientific method alongside varying cultural and ethical approaches to understanding our world. The Instructional Technology Council (ITC) has recognized The Global Challenge with the ITC Award for Outstanding Online Course.

In the second year, students choose one online learning course within their respective colleges. The junior- and senior-year requirements include a broad range of disciplinary requirements and electives.

The number of online course sections offered that fulfill the requirement expanded from 41 in the first year of the program to 439 during the 2008–2009 academic year.

With a strong digital infrastructure in place and with faculty well versed in the technology, the University now offers a wide variety of online programs for students around the world. These include the associate in arts degree, the bachelor of arts in individualized studies, the master of administrative science, the master of science in homeland security, the master of science in electrical engineering and a postdoctoral MS in clinical psychopharmacology, as well as various professional certificates.

The University also has cultivated special programs for specific populations. For example, FDU provides online degree-completion programs for the major consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and now has partnerships with other major corporations such as Verizon Wireless and Becton Dickinson. In collaboration with the National Guard and with more than $3 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, the University developed an online master of administrative science degree with emphasis on areas of homeland security and certificate programs with concentrations in global security and terrorism studies, emergency management administration and computer security and forensic administration.

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