June 6—Due to financial pressures, the decision was recently made to cease enrolling new students at Northwestern’s Christian Center for Communications (CCC) in Quito, Ecuador. Students currently enrolled in the program will be able to finish their education. The program will be moving toward an online/distance learning model moving forward. A task force has been assigned to discuss and plan details of this transition—their first meeting is scheduled for July.

“In light of financial pressures on the CCC,” HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson, told missionaries in Quito in April, “we are moving to a new, nontraditional model of training and education with a focus on distance education, online programs and lifelong learning.” The school’s director, Elsi Peñaranda, later shared the news with the 27 current students.

Meanwhile, HCJB Global will work in conjunction with NWC to adapt its “successful and accredited FOCUS degree program, allowing adult learners to continue their careers while earning their degree,” Pederson said. FOCUS involves attending one four-hour evening class per week along with extensive reading, writing, studying online and documenting real-life experiences.

For the last 10 years, the school has been an accredited degree site of Northwestern. A number of CCC/NWC graduates have successfully completed further studies and earned degrees from Northwestern.

“The adjustment [for foreign students] coming to the U.S. and learning in a second language is very, very challenging,” said Alan S. Cureton, Ph.D., president of NWC. “But each student has performed extremely well. Some have gone on to graduate school at Regent University and other universities in the U.S. as well as attending graduate school at Northwestern. Some have returned to Quito, others have remained in the U.S.”

“As we explored options for the future development of the CCC with regional leadership, it became obvious that our current educational model was not financially sustainable,” said Pederson. “HCJB Global leadership, in consultation with leadership in the Latin America region, came to the difficult decision that we must close the CCC and develop a new model of equipping, consistent with the on-location, hands-on training we provide around the world,” he said. After nearly 29 years, the school will close in 2013.

Full story available through the HCJB newsletter.