In the early 1990s, the school now known as Laurel University had had “70 students for 70 years.”
The small Bible college began working with Knowledge Elements, however, and increased its enrollment right away. A decade or so of growth followed, but then the focus began to shift. The numbers began to dwindle. The previously successful programs hadn’t been updated. The connection had been lost.
Recently, however, the relationship with Knowledge Elements was renewed, with one goal in mind: refurbishing and updating the entire curriculum. What came next was the development of a virtual master’s program that brought the school into the spotlight. It not only became the first accredited Bible college to offer an MBA degree, but also the first Christian college to offer an online MBA program licensed by the state of North Carolina. It uses Avatar technology to offer virtual business experiences to students.
That gave the school “some good PR,” said Dr. Larry McCullough, who became president of the school in March 2010, just after the program was approved by its board. But having worked with Knowledge Elements in the past at other schools, he knew there was much more that could be done.
“The first thing I did was ask Knowledge Elements to conduct an operational systems analysis,” he said. “My first month here on the job, they came in and helped me as the new president to see where we wanted to be and how to get there. The report on that was invaluable.”
Previous leadership may have been more comfortable with keeping the school small, he said, but he brought to the table an entrepreneurial bent and desire to grow. For that to happen, “we had to make sure we had the right infrastructure, and the right people on the bus,” he said. New leadership positions were added, and Knowledge Elements was right there, along for the ride.
“In the past, I’ve heard other college presidents and deans say, ‘We want to start an adult degree completion program or an online program, but we think we can do it ourselves,’” he said. “And five or ten years later, they’re still saying, ‘We want to start that program, and we think we can do it ourselves.’” Knowledge Elements, however, offers the know-how to take a dream to reality.
Laurel, formerly known as John Wesley College, has gone on to merge with Universidad FLET, with 1,800 students in 30 countries worldwide. In addition to helping with the development of new courses, accreditation, the merger, and rebranding, Knowledge Elements has helped with the process of translating curriculum into Spanish.
The relationship represents “an ongoing linking of arms,” McCullough said, and he’s happy to sing Knowledge Elements’ praises to anyone who will listen.
“If I were to go somewhere else, to another school,” he said, “they would be my first phone call. Speed dial.”

Within the last two years, Laurel University has increased its global outreach in previously unimagined ways.

With 1,000 students representing 26 countries, the North Carolina school is finding that offering online courses in other languages is key to partnering with the rapidly growing church, especially in Latin America.

“And they’re a missions-sending church,” says Dr. Larry McCullough, the school’s President. “We will have a pastor from Honduras, planting a church in Japan.  Our newest student is a Latino missionary in Nepal.  This is helping them be better equipped to serve God and serve the church.  Then there’s Cuba, where the number of Christians is doubling every two years.  There’s a tremendous need for trained leaders.  And we’re one of the few accredited institutions in the U.S. that can provide that training in Spanish.”

The university, a longtime partner of Knowledge Elements, got the ball rolling by merging with Universidad FLET.  At that point, some courses were available in Spanish, and some in English.  But through KE’s Atheneo framework and translation engine, Laurel’s courses can now be provided in a variety of languages even beyond those two.
 
“The electronic translation process is of a far higher quality than what you’ll find elsewhere,” McCullough says.  “With the text on the screen, you can choose French or Creole, Cantonese or Mandarin Chinese, and all of a sudden, it will translate right in front of you in a parallel fashion.  On the other end, students can give responses in their own language, even if it’s foreign to the grader or facilitator.  It’s a huge game-changer in online education, and we’re hugely grateful to KE to be bringing it to us.”
 
Laurel, which previously had partnered with KE to develop a virtual MBA program and onsite degree completion programs, also has undergone a strategic planning process with KE providing the experienced facilitator.
   
“I’ve led strategic planning processes in the past, but I knew of the expertise KE had in this area,” McCullough says. “I wanted them to come in, as a third party, and lead the entire process.  One of the things they helped us do was to map out a sort of welcome letter.  They suggested participants that should be involved.  We had board representatives and the president of our student association, which is unheard of in some entities.  And we had key administrators from the president’s cabinet.  Together, we worked on a journey, confirming our mission, vision and guiding principles, and digging into our core values.”

The facilitator is to be applauded for his guidance, McCullough says, but also for the way he led the group to pray throughout the process.

“It wasn’t, ‘Let’s have a word of prayer’ at the beginning and then, at the end, a prayer of thanks,” he says.  “Prayer was a focus in seeking God’s direction….  And I feel that we’ve now got an exciting plan.  A plan that’s stretching, but exciting to be a part of.”