General Catalog 2021-2022

Continuing Education Program

Inter American University established the Continuing Education Program to promote efforts to develop a will for continuous learning. The University has always maintained its commitment to facilitate ample educational opportunities to fulfill its philosophy of providing learning experience oriented towards the continuous acquisition of knowledge.

The Program facilitates the update of knowledge, the development of skills or their refinement for those persons who return to the University with the purpose of improving their education in order to continue participating and contributing in a highly competitive world. The Program provides learning experiences through up-to-date, pertinent, dynamic and innovative academic offerings. This Program is directed to those persons who need, desire or are required to learn, develop, update or refine their skills and acquire knowledge for their personal or professional improvement. It aims to achieve the following objectives:

  1. To provide an academic offering that responds to the interests and needs of the community and groups the Program serves.
  2. To promote and foster continuing education through the dissemination of the purpose and content of the Program.
  3. To offer excellent services geared to attain the maximum satisfaction of the participants.
  4. To promote and maintain collaborative projects with local and international entities in order to satisfy their market demands.
  5. To support University efforts in the promotion of cultural enrichment and social wellbeing as in means to improve the quality of life.

Academic Offerings of the Continuing Education Program

The Continuing Education Program will make available to the academic and non-academic university community a variety of courses, seminars, trainings and workshops in which a variety of specialized themes will be presented. In addition, it will promote an ample offering of pertinent current educational experiences as well as non-traditional experiences to attend to the changing needs of private business and government agencies. By means of innovative and multidisciplinary activities, faculty members will stimulate students to participate in experiences that make the learning process more participatory and dynamic, until they obtain control over the curricular content they are learning. At the same time, students will be motivated to learn from their classmates’ experiences in an environment of mutual and productive collaboration. Efficient attention will be given to those persons interested in or required to acquire new knowledge or update that which they already possess. It will also serve the needs of those persons whose profession requires that they take continuing education units and those who have the will and the interest to continue learning and acquiring knowledge for their own satisfaction.

Program personnel will collaborate with the academic departments in the preparation and implementation of proposals that aim to offer continuing education courses with University credit. This may be for special students or to satisfy the demands or particular needs of some professional organization, private enterprise or government agency. The academic units offered with University credits as part of the Continuing Education Program, must meet the established University norms and rules and laws that govern Higher Education in Puerto Rico. The administrative aspects inherent to the development of this special offering with academic credits (planning, programming, faculty contracts, approvals from accrediting agencies, among others), will be the responsibility of the corresponding academic department.

Development of Educational Offerings in Continuing Education

The Program will offer other educational activities to satisfy particular needs that may arise in service areas of the campuses, such as: summer camps, reviews in preparation for standardized tests, special projects, symposiums, conferences and others.

Development of Educational Activities

  1. Different educational activities will be available in special schedules in and outside of institutional facilities. Each one of these will be specifically designed to satisfy the needs and interests of diverse populations that will share their time between study and other personal, occupational, or professional enrichment activities.
  2. These educational activities will take place in physical facilities prepared with appropriate resources for learning and in which faculty members will be able to develop their classes in an efficient manner. The Chief Executive Officer of the campus will be responsible for providing the required conditions for the fulfillment of this norm.
  3. The different academic units will utilize technological advancements to make their academic offerings or special activities available to different populations both in and outside of Puerto Rico.
  4. The Program will maintain a faculty with the required academic preparation, vast experience, ample knowledge and up-to-date professional knowledge in the different curricula in order to facilitate the acquisition of practical and pertinent knowledge in accordance with the demands of a highly technological and competitive world.
  5. The Central Office, as well as the academic units, will provide activities for the continuous enrichment and professional development of the faculty and other program personnel in curricular and pedagogical matters. Program faculty may participate in the developmental learning experiences planned for the regular faculty of academic unit.
  6. The Chief Executive Officers may consult and request advice from the Vice Presidency for Academic and Student Affairs and Systemic Planning with regard to the academic development of the Program or in any other related matter.