Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Indiana, is celebrating its fourth consecutive year of growth in student numbers this fall, with a total enrolment of 189 students (157 in 2022) as of Sept. 11, 2023. Of these, 149 are graduate students (141 in 2022) and 40 are participants in the undergraduate-level nondegree Journey Missional Leadership Development Program (16 in 2022). Thirteen Canadians are included in this total—11 graduate students and two Journey participants.
According to Scott Janzen, Assistant Dean, Registrar and Director of Retention, the number of graduate students marks the seminary’s highest enrolment in 14 years, and the full-time equivalency of student enrolment— 56.8—is the highest in 11 years. The incoming class of 49 students (up from 29 in 2022) is the largest since 1999. The number of degree- or certificate-seeking graduate students also rose significantly, jumping to 132 from 116 in 2022. This year’s growth reflects increases in U.S. and Canadian student numbers, and the graduate student body represents 22 countries.
“We’re experiencing enrolment growth in remarkable ways in a time when many seminaries in the U.S. and Canada are struggling,” reflected David Boshart, President. “We don’t take it for granted that our numbers are some of the highest we’ve seen in years. AMBS’s programs and initiatives are attracting people from across the globe in addition to our U.S. and Canadian students. Our increased collaboration with Anabaptist-Mennonite and other Christian organizations is helping make this possible, enabling more people to access the Anabaptist theological education we offer.”
Janzen noted that enrolment in AMBS’s distance-friendly programs represents 77 percent of admitted students in 2023 (up from 65 percent in 2022). The online Master of Arts: Theology and Global Anabaptism (MATGA) has 51 students in 2023, compared with 40 in 2022 and 32 in 2021. Nine of these are South Korean students taking MATGA courses in South Korea through a new partnership between AMBS and the Nehemiah Institute for Christian Studies in Seoul. Twenty-nine are Ethiopian students enrolled in MATGA cohorts through a partnership between AMBS and Meserete Kristos Seminary in Bishoftu/Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
Additionally, 10 students are enrolled in an online Spanish-language graduate certificate program that began this fall through a partnership between Mennonite Education Agency and AMBS. Seven students are enrolled in AMBS’s Doctor of Ministry in Leadership, which launched in January.
The increase in Journey program participants has come from overseas, with 26 of 40 residing in countries other than the U.S. and Canada. A new cohort of 21 participants in Southeast Asia has begun online classes in languages other than English.
Eleven graduate students attended an on-campus orientation in August 2023. Front (l. to r.): Kandace Boos of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada; Teresa Martin of Norman, Oklahoma; DJ Polite of Columbia, South Carolina; Hasset (Joy) Shimeles of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Clare Krabill of Goshen, Indiana. Back (l. to r.): Kandace Helmuth of Akron, Pennsylvania; Brian Johnson of Missoula, Montana; Daniel Nugroho of Ungaran, Central Java, Indonesia; Kyle Schlabach of Goshen; Christian Nawai of Ndjamena, Chad; Andrew Zetts of Souderton, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Brittany Purlee)
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