Higher education careers encompass a variety of roles. While most people think of higher education jobs as strictly post-secondary teaching, there are also research positions in every discipline or you can become an adviser or administrator. Post-secondary employees may work independently or be responsible for small teams of students or researchers. Alternatively, they may become department heads within a university, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Opportunities are diverse and include part-time, full-time and tenured positions. Most post-secondary teachers work nine months a year, leaving time off to research, travel, or pursue other interests.
Higher Education Online Colleges
There are a variety of online higher education degrees for those looking to advance their career. Since most higher education careers require you to have a master's or doctoral degree, this is what you can find available online. Many of these advanced degrees fall within one of several categories such as curriculum, instruction, or educational technology. You can also find online higher education degrees focused in other areas such as organizational leadership or assessment and evaluation, although these are less common. At the post-master's level, you'll also see a variety of online opportunities available, which could reflect the need for this kind of education in the academic world. You'll see that there are options for a doctor's of philosophy as well as a doctor's of education through a number of online schools.
Higher education careers in research and teaching typically require a doctoral degree in the discipline of the position. Candidates with only a master's degree could be considered for temporary or part time positions, according to the BLS. College and university professors held nearly 1.7 million jobs in 2008, and the occupation is expected to grow faster than average. Post-secondary teaching positions are expected to grow 15 percent between 2008 and 2018. Median salaries for academic deans range from $92,622 to $158,000 depending on department, and higher education administrators range from $54,931 to $141,712. Mean earned wages also varied by subject area for professors, according to the BLS. However, most of these wages started above $60,000 but can range much higher. The field is open when it comes to your subject teaching matter at this level (assuming you have the credentials, of course) and you can seek work at the post-secondary education level as an engineering teacher, education teacher, history teacher, psychology teacher, or as a teacher in many other fields. If higher education is appealing to you, an online degree in is one way to take the steps there.