From 1 July the US-based university’s campus in Luxembourg will cease to operate as a stand-alone entity and face-to-face courses will no longer be offered in the grand duchy. All support services will be provided in Fairfield, Connecticut, where the college is based.
This is reportedly part of a new strategy to switch to online education and not related to lack of enrolment. Nearly half of the 100 students currently enrolled at the Luxembourg campus are expected to graduate at the end of May.
Sacred Heart was the first university to offer an internationally accredited MBA programme, and has been operating in the grand duchy since 1992.
Antoine Rech, head of SHU's Luxembourg campus confirmed to Delano that the university's branch in the grand duchy will shut down and that all of the six employees, including himself, will be let go. They had not been informed in advance.
“You know, what happened is, we went through covid. And the former dean actually started to work on a digital campus integration. The reason for this is we switched to online on day one, when covid happened back in March 2020. And it worked very well,” said Rech.
The head of the Luxembourg campus insisted that the decision to switch to online education was not related to the performance of the branch in the grand duchy. A number of initiatives that had been launched in Luxembourg were also adopted at the university's main campus in Fairfield. Rech also highlighted that around 95% of the students who were enrolled in the Luxembourg campus found a job right after or even before graduating.
In an email to the students enrolled in the university Sacred Heart explained that the digital format will allow students to take classes with the US faculty while also benefiting from a European perspective.
“We believe this approach will best position us for future success and will offer you the best of both worlds as you learn from financial experts from Europe, the U.S. and throughout the world,” stated the SHU.
Sacred Heart also has a campus in Dingle, Ireland, which will remain open. The students in the Luxembourg branch are recruited locally while those in Ireland are transferred from the US for a set period of time.
Updated on 20 May at 8:45am to include comments from Antoine Rech and Sacred Heart University.