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College is meant to be challenging. It is designed not only to present new ideas and facts, but to encourage wholly different, more sophisticated strategies for thinking and creating. It’s also meant to support students as they grapple with these challenges, a process known as academic rigor. 

The truth is, there’s no hard and fast definition of academic rigor. Dr. Eve Krahe Billings, dean of academic innovation and evaluation at ���۴�ý, explains it this way: “It’s about how we think, not about how much we do. From a student’s point of view, academic rigor isn’t being asked to do more homework or to use jargon. It’s not contentious, and it’s not fast. Instead, we know we’re engaged in a conversation or task marked by rigor if we are being curious, going deep, using the evidence, seeing the nuance, and asking hard questions in a kind way.”

Dr. Krahe Billings understands this process as “the academic endeavor,” the way students grow and mature as thinkers, become lifelong learners and members of an academic discipline, and use their skills to make meaningful contributions to their industry profession and society.

The way in which higher education supports students as they move outside of their comfort zones into these new identities is a useful way to understand academic rigor, she says. Rigor is one of the cornerstones of higher education and, when fostered correctly, one of the most exciting parts of being a student.

This can necessarily take time, especially since another important component of academic rigor is deeply understanding existing texts, models, scientific evidence or literature. “That can’t be ignored,” Dr. Krahe Billings says. “Rigor says you have to listen to those who came before you. As a mentor of mine told me a long time ago, you can’t deconstruct something until you fully understand it.”

There remains, though, at least one misconception among students regarding academic rigor. Specifically, that rigor simply refers to a class that’s very difficult — and one that potentially sets you up to fail. But a punishing workload of reading and writing assignments and a slew of quizzes and exams isn’t academic rigor.

Instead, a rigorous course might be imagined as one where:

• The course content is aligned to what course expectations are.
• A clear narrative and context explain the course “story” to students.
• Appropriate tools and resources are available to students.

These types of support should always be part of a well-designed, rigorous course, Dr. Krahe Billings says. Faculty can further enhance this experience by setting clear expectations and offering personalized feedback that challenges the student but holds the bar high in a professional and kind way. Krahe Billings stresses: “Rigor isn’t mean.”

Which didn’t mean the work was always comfortable for her. As a project manager for 35 years, Connor had expected two courses — data analysis and corporate finance — to be very similar to the work she does every day. “They were not,” she says and laughs. “I had to learn stuff I didn’t expect to learn.” 

It’s no secret that public faith in higher education is declining. Nearly half of those surveyed in a 2025 said colleges and universities are doing only a fair-to-poor job of developing students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills — a key indicator of academically rigorous courses.

On the other side of the higher education coin are employers who have historically favored candidates with college degrees. But the declining faith in higher education has impacted how many employers view the ability of higher education to inform and shape qualified, skilled workers. According to a , there’s an opportunity to “strengthen alignment between education pathways and workforce demands.”

While trends like these are worrisome, Dr. Krahe Billings, who is accountable for oversight of the assessment of student learning at the University, sees in them a twofold opportunity.

First, universities focusing on skills-aligned learning are working to close the gap between what the academic endeavor provides to students in a higher-ed context and in the “real world” of life and career.

This gap is real. Consider that Gallup report, for example, which laid out employer concerns regarding the skill readiness of college graduates. One way to close that gap, , is for companies and higher education institutions to work together to teach the skills relevant to students and industries alike.

Second, the shift of higher education from solely ground-based campuses to increasingly online offerings opened up a new world of options for many students. By fall 2021, 61% of college students were enrolled in at least one distance (online) education course (up from 36% in 2019); and 28% of undergraduates studied only online in 2021, compared to just 15% in 2019. That means students have more ways to learn — and institutions have more ways to challenge them. The good news? “Rigor is not modality- or environment-dependent; you don’t have to be on a campus in front of a lecturer,” Dr. Krahe Billings says. 

Believe it or not, there’s the possibility that AI may help institutions rediscover rigor rather than make rigor impossible to achieve. The rise of AI is challenging colleges and universities to rethink what rigorous learning looks like — and reminding many that the most valuable skills are not memorization or content production, but judgment, curiosity, creativity and critical thinking.

In a way, Dr. Krahe Billings says, “higher education is going old school: back to the spirit of the medieval universities, where learning was built around close reading, debate, oral defense and the disciplined exchange of ideas. Far from making rigor obsolete, AI may be helping us rediscover what rigor has meant all along.” Again, we come back to the way of thinking, not how much is produced.

Academic rigor at UOPX starts with how the University’s academic programs are designed, says Dr. Krahe Billings.

Skills-aligned learning is central to ���۴�ý. Assessment (grading) connects to the knowledge and abilities students need to succeed in the real world. “If a course is asking a student to execute a in a healthcare program or design an evaluation of new teacher preparedness in an education program, or determine readiness for clinical practice in a counseling program, this requires rigorous, precise thinking,” explains Dr. Krahe Billings. “Our students come away with workplace poise and the language to communicate effectively.”

Connor says her master’s program was demanding but not overwhelming. “I knew there would be a lot of reading and writing, and I appreciated the fact that the program was more rigorous,” says the 2025 graduate. “It was not overly hard, but I had to be prepared each week.”

She found the online discussions with fellow students especially stimulating. Exchanging perspectives, conducting research and communicating effectively in writing have consistently translated well to her job as a manager of critical facilities at Health Care Service Corporation.

Structuring the week to align with course readings and writing assignment deadlines made the workload manageable for Connor, who was raising two sons and working full time while attending the University. She also found support from the University’s academic advising and technical departments when she needed it.

“The unique thing at UOPX is that we do a good job of balancing skills-building for the workplace with the higher education experience and with empathy,” says Dr. Billings.

Learning to think critically while acquiring practical competencies sets graduates up for long-term success, Dr. Billings says. “Academic rigor is a doorway into places in life that you might not otherwise access. It’s taking the time to think and being supported with the tools to really dig into an idea or a problem. Lazy thinking doesn’t get you very far.”

Academic rigor is at the core of every degree program at ���۴�ý. Explore a wide range of fields of study — from business and technology to education and nursing — to find the program that’s right for you.

You can also reach out to the University to ask questions about programs, admission, financial aid, tuition and much more.