Northcentral University was founded on the principle of active self-learning and designed to allow adult Learners to achieve their dreams and advance professionally while balancing personal lives and careers with a rigorous education experience.

Fully engaged adults, with careers, families, community involvement — with lives — often desire to further their education. To these people NCU offers an enriching university experience that allows them to fit education into their lives, rather than forcing them to fit their lives into education.

With the Internet, providing adult Learners educational convenience is fairly basic. The challenge for NCU was to make sure this convenience was part of a genuinely educational, intellectually enriching experience. It was the commitment to this standard of academic excellence that lifted Northcentral University to the highest tier of 100% online higher education.

These are the essential aspects of NCU's philosophy of education:

Distance Learning

Online distance learning occurs when the student and teacher are not in the same location and depends on the Internet to facilitate communication. At NCU this is an asynchronous process — there are no set times for classes; you learn according to your own schedule.

Active Self-Learning

Learning is an individual process, and Learners have different needs and require different styles to facilitate successful learning. Each Learner approaches his or her chosen field from a different perspective and has subtly distinctive goals and scholarly interests. NCU understands just how unique each Learner is and offers them an individualized academic experience.

The NCU graduate gains full exposure to the fundamentals of their field and a firm grasp of current research and best practices. But no two NCU Learners get an identical education, as each one shapes their own academic exploration.

One-on-one Faculty Mentoring

At NCU the professors, not the teaching assistants, do the teaching. And the process does not take place in a large lecture hall or even around a seminar table. The teaching at NCU is a one-on-one process, and that is why it is called Faculty Mentoring.

Almost all NCU Faculty Mentors have doctoral degrees and those few who do not have distinguished themselves in their fields. In addition our Mentors possess professional credentials, are skilled in recognizing individual learning styles and needs, and are trained in online distance teaching.

Institutional Support

At NCU, asynchronous online Learning does not mean you work in isolation. From first contact through graduation, NCU provides the resources Learners need to succeed: Responsive and knowledgeable Advisors; internal communication systems and opportunities; an outstanding Library and staff; innovative and comprehensive writing, ePortfolio and dissertation support centers; dedicated Faculty Mentors.