Cardinal Education

The Online Graduate Engineering Consortium, also known as Cardinal Education (formerly CGEP), is designed to provide individuals with strong undergraduate level engineering backgrounds an opportunity to pursue Master of Engineering degrees without leaving their jobs. Cardinal is a partnership of six respected universities and has a 35+ year record of leadership in distance learning. The partnership provides students with excellent and flexible degree options. It allows employers to upskill their professionals without losing them to relocation. And, it fuels growth in the tech economy, particularly in Virginia. This is done as a long‐standing partnership between the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV), and our six schools. Cardinal Education is managed by the Souther Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC) in South Boston, VA. 

You can learn more about the consortium at its web site, www.cardinaleducation.org

The advantage of the Cardinal Education partnership is flexibility for our students!

Many Cardinal Education courses are live-recorded and delivered right along side on‐grounds students. Students take many classes asynchronously, when it is convenient to them, by watching the classroom recordings.

Students can take up to half of the credits towards their degree from one of our five partner institutions; this is more than is allowed for on‐grounds students. This arrangement allows you greater course selection and to complete your degree as flexibly and in as short a time as possible.

Of special note: In general, Transfer credits must be completed at least one semester prior to graduation. See the Request Approval Of Transfer Credits Form for further details.

You can learn more about the consortium from the Cardinal Education website. You can also reach out directly to the Program Directors at each of the partner schools, or to our dedicated Cardinal Education staff with the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC). Cardinal Education is managed by SVHEC.

• Dr. Daniel Garrison, GMU
• Dr. Stacie Ringleb, ODU
• Dr. Amy Clobes, UVA
• Dr. Gary Tepper, VCU
• Dr. Dawit Haile, VSU
• Dr. Alicia Johnson, VT
• Amy Cole, SVHEC

The UVA distance education partnership program (Cardinal Education, formerly known as CGEP) began in 1983 with a live single point-to-point broadcast from UVA to the Cabell Library at VCU – a “receive site.” Students who could not attend a class session would be sent a VHS tape via postal mail to review the missed material. Homework and tests were handled by paper and postal mail as well. 

By the fall of 1986, fast changes were already taking place as our courses were now offered via satellite. One receive site turned into 22. Students could participate at VCU, at other locations around Virginia, and in a few places out of the state. In the 1990s, the satellite signal changed from analog to digital, and then we adopted new technologies, leaving satellite behind completely and moving to digital video-conferencing. 

In 2011, courses were delivered live using two-way web-conferencing technology, and by the spring of 2012, live, interactive web-conferencing had become our primary mode of course delivery.  Gone are the days of receive sites and VHS tape shipments!  

Today, students can take a class, submit homework, review course materials and lectures, and earn their degree, from wherever they have internet access – within the state or on the other side of the globe.