Academics

Harvest University is committed to pursuing truth, achieving excellence in teaching and learning, and enriching the mind, heart, and character to serve both the church and the world for the Kingdom of God.

A first professional degree is an advanced academic credential designed to prepare individuals for a specific profession occupation. Unlike traditional academic degrees that focus on a broad range of subjects, a first professional degree is tailored to provide in-depth education and training in a particular field, often leading to a specific career path.

First Professional Degree

The Master of Divinity (M. Div.) program stands as the first professional degree for individuals pursuing a vocation in ministry. Rooted in a comprehensive and multifaceted curriculum, the M. Div. program extends over a four-year period, offering an immersive educational experience that combines theological study, practical training, and spiritual formation.

Harvest’s Master of Divinity is a 4-year degree program with various concentration tracks preparing its graduates for ministry in a wide range of contexts while qualifying them for pastoral ordination examination.

Academic Rigor

Academic rigor helps to promote lifelong learning and is an integral aspect of Harvest University’s mission. Academic rigor means sustaining a learning environment that challenges students to attain high levels of intellectual skills in an ethical manner.

Academic Rigor for Faculty

Rigorous teaching permits faculty members to create learning environments that challenge students academically and encourage them to grow. Rigorous teaching requires a professional commitment to academic discipline and to inspiring students to develop their knowledge and understanding by developing their learning skills.

Students should be able to expect faculty members to:

• Strive to clearly communicate the course expectations and have them summarized on the syllabus, and to follow the curriculum;

• Strive to come to class prepared, and to give students useful feedback on their assignments in as timely manner as the situation permits;

• Strive to be available to students outside of the classroom;

• Strive to make assignments relevant, meaningful and challenging;

• Strive to create opportunities for learning in ways geared to students’ diverse talents and abilities;

• Strive to reduce, if not eliminate, the students’ perceived need to plagiarize and to challenge plagiarism should it occur;

• Strive to evaluate our courses and ourselves.

Academic Rigor for Students

To make the most of the college experience, students should approach college in terms of a rigor complementary to the faculty’s. Rigorous learning requires fortitude, persistence, preparation, hard work, and zeal.

Since college shifts students from the teacher- centered style of high school learning to a student-centered style of learning, it places a higher level of responsibility for performance onto the students. Such high performance at a demanding institution can lead to a successful and satisfying career. Therefore, rigorous students should expect themselves to:

• Set high expectations along with a strong sense of collegiate purpose;

• Come to class prepared to work, and to submit assignments by the deadlines;

• Make the most of their time with faculty members in and out of class;

• Treat fellow students and the classroom with respect, and to participate in the academic process;

• Manage their time so they can treat college as real work with real value;

• Participate with complete honesty and integrity;

• Understand that collaboration with classmates on assignments, when required or encouraged, is acceptable behavior as long as the products of those assignments are truly the student’s own work;

• Accept responsibility for learning and for the grades earned.