The mission of University of Phoenix is to provide access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the performance of their organizations and provide leadership and service to their communities.
The vision of University of Phoenix is to be recognized as the most trusted provider of career-relevant higher education for working adults. The University will earn that trust through our:
Deep understanding of students’ needs
Deep understanding of employers’ needs
World-class assessment, analytics and innovation
Operational excellence
Guiding principles
From our earliest beginnings as the University that changed higher education, University of Phoenix has embraced excellence and innovation. Academic year 2023 was no different.
Like our students, we’re always pressing, never resting. Read on to discover how this came to life in 2023.
Our students can be confident that their degrees line up with real-world careers. How? As of 2023, 100% of the University’s associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs open for new enrollment are now aligned to career-relevant workplace skills.
Students can post digital badges on their resumés and social media channels as proof of the skills they’re learning. We offer more than 149 distinct badges, and as of December 2023 we had issued more than 450,000.
Building upon 45 years of continuous accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org), our institutional accreditation was once again reaffirmed in 2023 for 10 more years.
In its third year of studying American workers’ personal career perceptions, the Career Optimism Index ® study again includes perspectives from 500 U.S. employers, positioning the University at the intersection of higher education and the labor market.
With the launch of our Career Navigator in 2023, students now have a place where they can easily reference their skills profile, explore career goals, search job postings, and navigate their career journey all in one place.
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The Master of Health Administration was reaccredited for a seven-year term by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).
The University’s Office of Educational Equity received the UPCEA ® Leadership in Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Award for 2023.
Students and alumni have a safe space to cultivate belonging, thanks to the launch of our virtual student café, “Bravely Belong.”
The University began publishing Alumni Chronicles, a digital and print magazine featuring alumni profiles, inspiring stories, news and career tips.
The University hit the 1,000-graduate milestone for its competency-based degrees, which help students leverage real-world skills to accelerate degree completion.
Our second annual Inclusive Leadership Summit gathered 2,100 participants from 19 countries around the theme of developing a culture of belonging.
The University honored its 2023 Faculty of the Year award recipients, recognizing 15 winners across all seven colleges.
Vice President of Information Technology Shannon Wilson and Vice Provost Marc Booker co-presented at Anthology Together, highlighting collaboration between academic and IT teams.
To help students use AI responsibly and effectively, the University released comprehensive guidelines for use of generative AI.
The College of Doctoral Studies welcomed more than 500 registrants from 14 countries during its 10th annual Knowledge Without Boundaries Summit.
Raelene Brooks, PhD, RN, was named to the 2023 Who’s Who in Healthcare Industry Leaders list by AZ Business magazine.
University of Phoenix and Motherly released the 2023 Mothers Overcome More™, the M.O.M.™ report examining barriers working American mothers face.
In Greek mythology, the Phoenix is an immortal bird that rises to new life. Our students can relate. Many of our students went to the school of life before taking their first class.
Almost 8 in 10 work, and most are raising kids. Six in 10 are the first in their family to pursue a college degree.
Somewhere in these overlapping circles of statistics, our students can be found head down, grinding through deadlines and doubts — until, in true Phoenix form, they rise.
Phoenixes are as diverse as they are determined. Here’s who they are statistically.
total degreed enrollment
of our students are women
is the average age of new students
report as ethnic minorities
are first-generation students
are employed while in school
University Learning Goals (ULGs) are a set of five overarching competencies that employers identify as top affective, or “soft” skills, and that University of Phoenix incorporates into its academic programs.
The percentage of student work, aligned to University Learning Goals, that scored 70% or higher by faculty in FY23 [1] was:
Cultural competence and ethics
Critical thinking and problem-solving
Communication
Digital fluency
Collaboration
[1] Source: University of Phoenix, 2023, Learning Management System
From September 2022 through August 2023, students who took our end-of-course surveys reported high satisfaction in these areas:
Likely to recommend instructors to other students
Likely to recommend the University to colleague, friend or family
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University of Phoenix founder Dr. John Sperling knew what it meant to beat the odds. He grew up poor, he battled a learning disability, and he worked his way through school to earn a PhD.
The challenges he faced inspired him to create a better path for students like him. He saw adult learners struggling with rigid class schedules, often taking six to 10 years to earn a degree. And it gave him a revolutionary idea: What if he created a university for working adults?
His experiment didn’t make earning a degree easier — only more practical, with schedules that made sense for working adults and coursework that translated immediately to the real world.
