Southern Vermont College to Receive $10 Million for Modernization and Development

Times had been tough for the Southern Vermont College, located at Bennington, Vermont. With the Covid epidemic putting a wrench on its many plans and programs, it has had to coast by with the online setup it has created. Even then, both students and faculty alike express the opinion that the time for a change is in the air.

This college was reopened last year in December, with the previous years being fraught with financial instabilities and other organizational issues. They are known for offering programs in the fields of Business, Humanities, Nursing, Science & Technology, Social Science among others. Furthermore, they offered many extracurricular opportunities and financial aid programs to students from varying walks of life. This all made the College a mixing pot of diverse cultures that melded together and helped students gain an understanding of the professional environment.

Ever since the COVID pandemic which raged the world for the past two years, the college has switched to a digital interface where running their degree programs has been difficult. The combination of learning how to use the digital space for learning, as well as other external factors, has caused both students and professors alike a lot of burdens. Technical problems have also been a constant hindrance for both sides, making some sectors of the academe much harder to reach.

On the side of the instructors and professors, some of them have found it difficult to adapt their curriculums to the solely online schedule. Feedback directed towards students is also hard to come by, especially in courses that require much more practical lectures. Although the college stays steadily on course for the next years, its problems could exacerbate without the proper funding for further improvements.

Now, the college is set to receive some much-needed support to fuel its development. The investment of $10 million has been posted towards new programs and modernization efforts. An annual operational reserve of $5 million has also been made available for various operating expenses and the board was grateful for catering an additional buffer of $2 million per annum for the purposes of both student recruitment, marketing, and staff development.

Professor Kelan Briggs, President of Southern Vermont College, has expressed hopes for the college to improve its programs for both undergraduate and graduate students. They have stated that “The rapid digitization of our modern world has driven a massive spike of interest in both business and technology. We aim to provide a platform for development for the McCormick Division of Business, as well as the John Merck Division of Science and Technology.”

Their administration has also expressed its stance on certain potential issues that may arise from these marketing endeavors. They assured their students and staff that the University will make sure that these partnerships shall remain ethical and retain the institution’s academic integrity. Not only that, they will make their future programs transparent for the public to scrutinize for themselves. We hope to see a bright future for this academic university.