A study released last month shows that African American and Hispanic students are earning more undergraduate degrees from the online school the University of Phoenix than any other college or university in the country.

The comprehensive study was released in December by the Virginia-based publication Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Among other things, the magazine tracks various trends in education and how some of those trends affect African-American students.

“The University of Phoenix has made higher education accessible to all walks of live, including minority, first generation, underrepresented, rural and other at-risk students,” said John Arnold, chairman of the League of United Latin American Citizen’s Education Commission, a strategic partner of the University of Phoenix.

According to a press release on the University of Phoenix website, African-American, Hispanic and Native-American students earned more undergraduate degrees in business and finance, management, marketing sciences and healthcare, and various other related support services than any other college in the country. Results for Asian-American students were the same.

“These rankings are particularly important, given the current economic downturn,” said Bill Pepicello, president of the University of Phoenix. “They demonstrate [that the] University of Phoenix is structured to confront market forces nimbly [and is] attuned to the current job market with our focus on fast-growing occupational areas.”

In a related issue, less than two weeks before the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president, a national educational think tank has launched a web based marketing campaign advocating change in public education.

A group calling itself the Forum for Education and Democracy, in Washington, D.C., is using one of the many mantras of the Obama campaign of “Yes We Can,” in sparking much needed change in public schools across the country.

“Our goal is to build on the hopefulness of the Obama campaign [and] address the shared anxiety about our uncertain future,” said Sam Chaltain, national director of the organization. “[We must] channel both sets of feelings into actions that will help support our nation’s schools.”

A short film on the popular internet video website You Tube entitled “Yes We Can” has been viewed more than 15 million times and encourages viewers to sign a petition to work with President-elect Obama to honor commitments to improve public education.

To view the complete results of the Diverse Issues in Higher Education report, about the record number of minorities earning undergraduate degrees from the University of Phoenix, log onto http:// www.newscome/cgibin/prnh or visit the University of Phoenix website at http://www.upxnewsroom.com.