Category Archives: Corporate University

Distance Ed Deal Dead in Ohio

Inside Higher Ed: Deal Dead in Ohio
March 4, 2009

A private company that sought to help the University of Toledo for a share of tuition revenues has “deferred” its negotiations, citing a lack of “alignment” between faculty who opposed the plan and administrators who embraced it.

In an e-mail circulated on campus Tuesday, Provost Rosemary Haggett lamented the end of talks with Higher Ed Holdings and criticized faculty for their objections.

George Mason U. Will Close Its Campus in the Persian Gulf

The Chronicle News Blog: George Mason U. Will Close Its Campus in the Persian Gulf

George Mason University has decided to shut down its branch campus in the Persian Gulf emirate of Ras al Khaymah, after its local partners drastically slashed the campus’s operating budget while expecting the university to nearly double the number of students enrolled at the campus, the university’s provost said Thursday.

Inside Higher Ed: Gulf Withdrawal

It’s the kind of story that could have come straight out of Peter Stearns’ new book. Discussing the potential pitfalls of setting up branch campuses in foreign lands, the George Mason University provost strikes a sober tone:

“This is difficult terrain, with a shaky past; caution is abundantly justified,” Stearns writes in Educating Global Citizens in Colleges and Universities: Challenges and Opportunities.

U Toledo considering deal with for-profit to deliver grad courses

Inside Higher Ed: Private Conversations

Tension is mounting at the University of Toledo, where administrators are exploring a partnership with a private company known for churning out quick and inexpensive degrees.

Toledo officials are considering a deal with Higher Ed Holdings, a Texas-based company that would help deliver online masters-level education courses to students in exchange for a share of tuition revenues. The company, founded by Dallas entrepreneur Randy Best, already has a similar arrangement with Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

Iowa: Waldorf College may sell assets to online school

Des Moines Register: Waldorf College may sell assets to online school

Forest City, Ia. – Waldorf College leaders are pursuing a rare path for a nonprofit, faith-based college – selling its assets to a for-profit, online university.

College President Dick Hanson confirmed Friday that school officials were considering such a move with Columbia Southern University of Alabama. The proposal comes as the 106-year-old Lutheran- affiliated college struggles with its finances. It has seen enrollment and donations shrink.

Research and Inventions Earn Big Bucks for American Universities

The Chronicle: Research and Inventions Earn Big Bucks for American Universities

At least 27 universities earned more than $10-million from licensing the rights to vaccines, drugs, medical devices, and other intellectual property in 2007, according to a report released yesterday by the Association of University Technology Managers. Ten universities earned more than $50-million each from license income in 2007.

Vanderbilt U. Makes List of ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’

The Chronicle News Blog: Vanderbilt U. Makes List of ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’

Employees at Vanderbilt University helped the Tennessee institution land a spot among the 100 best companies to work for, as ranked by Fortune magazine.

Vanderbilt, at No. 98, is the first educational institution ever to be named to the annual list, which is based on an employee survey.

District of Columbia: UDC offering to take over Southeastern U., source says

DC Examiner: UDC offering to take over Southeastern U., source says

The University of the District of Columbia has made a takeover offer for D.C.’s Southeastern University, The Examiner has learned.

UDC’s new president, Allen Sessoms, and its board chair, Jim Dyke, met with Southeastern’s board chair, J.R. Clark, about a month ago and offered to absorb Southeastern, a source with intimate knowledge of the talks told The Examiner.

Excellence in America: The Epidemiology of Wal-mart

howtheuniversityworks.com: Excellence in America: The Epidemiology of Wal-mart

Unless you’re currently afflicted by the GI bug that my family just survived, you’ll want to play this shockwave data visualization of, as LumpenProf puts it, “how quickly the Wal-Mart pandemic has spread from a single outbreak in Arkansas in 1962.”

For profit purchases

Inside Higher Ed: For profit purchases

It’s been a busy week for for-profit acquisitions in higher education. Rockbridge Growth Equity announced the purchase of Northcentral University, an online institution with 7,500 students in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Kaplan Inc. meanwhile announced the purchase of companies that provide English language training in Vietnam and in Britain.

Extreme Work Study

1839_pic.jpgAcademic Matters: Extreme Work Study

In this excerpt adapted from Marc Bousquet‘s recent book, How The University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation (NYU Press, 2008), Marc Bousquet explores the relationship of mass higher education in the United States to a global shift toward precarious employment.

Academic Capitalism and Academic Culture: A Case Study

Education Policy Analysis Archives has just published its latest issue at
http://epaa.asu.edu/ and also at http://www.epaa.info/ojs/index.php/epaa. We
invite you to visit our web sites to review articles and items of interest.

Academic Capitalism and Academic Culture: A Case Study
Pilar Mendoza
University of Florida

Joseph B. Berger
University of Massachusetts ˆ Amherst

Mendoza, Pilar., & Berger, J. B. (2008). Academic capitalism and academic
culture: A case study. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 16(23). Retrieved
[date] from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v16n23/.

Abstract

This case study investigated the impact of academic capitalism on academic
culture by examining the perspectives of faculty members in an American
academic department with significant industrial funding. The results of this
study indicate that faculty members believe that the broad integrity of the
academic culture remains unaffected in this department and they consider
industrial sponsorship as a highly effective vehicle for enhancing the
quality of education of students and pursuing their scientific interests.
This study provides valuable insights to federal and institutional policies
created to foster industry-academia partnerships and commercialization of
academic research.

UK: ‘Make students pay up to £20,000’ to compete with top American universities

Daily Mail: ‘Make students pay up to £20,000’ to compete with top American universities

Critics warn the proposals could deter poor students from applying to universities

Universities should be allowed to charge American-style tuition fees of up to £20,000 a year to improve the quality of teaching, according to a report.

Bryn Mawr College eyeing campus in Abu Dhabi

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Bryn Mawr College eyeing campus in Abu Dhabi

Bryn Mawr College is looking into becoming the first American women’s college to set up shop in the oil-rich Middle East, but some faculty and students worry that the move clashes with the school’s history of feminism and could dilute the school’s stellar program.

Cleveland Clinic Discloses Doctors’ Industry Ties

The New York Times: Cleveland Clinic Discloses Doctors’ Industry Ties

The Cleveland Clinic plans to announce this week it has begun publicly reporting the business relationships that any of its 1,800 staff doctors and scientists have with drug and device makers.

Lincoln Buys For-Profit College

Inside Higher Ed: Lincoln Educational Services Corp. said Monday that it had completed its $11.4 million purchase of Briarwood College, a two-year for-profit college that offers bachelor’s and associate degrees on its residential campus in Connecticut. Lincoln operates 34 campuses in 17 states, most of which are nationally accredited. Briarwood is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

N.E. colleges see profit in China’s multitudes

Boston Globe: N.E. colleges see profit in China’s multitudes

BEIJING – Some elite American universities come to China to scout the smartest students possible. Other lesser known schools, particularly small private colleges around New England, arrive here with a far different motive: profit.

Arizona: Grand Canyon University IPO hits the market

Phoenix Business Journal: Grand Canyon University IPO hits the market

Grand Canyon University took the plunge into the publicly traded world Wednesday — ending a 15-month drought for Arizona IPOs.

Its holding company, Grand Canyon Education Inc., sold 10.5 million shares at $12 each Wednesday, and will begin trading under the symbol LOPE on the Nasdaq Global Market Thursday, Reuters reported. Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

Architect of Kaplan’s Higher-Education Ventures Is Stepping Down

The Chronicle News Blog: Architect of Kaplan’s Higher-Education Ventures Is Stepping Down

Jonathan Grayer, who as chairman and chief executive officer of Kaplan Inc. helped turn a small test-preparation company into a $2-billion enterprise that operates dozens of colleges and the all-online Concord Law School, announced on Wednesday that he was planning to resign. He said he would pursue entrepreneurial ventures and philanthropy.

U.S. Senator Questions Whether College Presidents Should Serve on Corporate Boards

The Chronicle News Blog: U.S. Senator Questions Whether College Presidents Should Serve on Corporate Boards

Washington — Sen. Charles E. Grassley has issued a written statement urging college trustees to reconsider whether their presidents should serve on corporate boards.

“University boards should look at what students gain or lose from having the university president sit on corporate boards, such as Bear Stearns,” said Mr. Grassley, an Iowa Republican and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. “Maybe there are fund-raising gains, but those gains might be undercut by time away from the institution or conflicts of interest.”

U. of Phoenix Settles Discrimination Suit for $1.9-Million

The Chronicle: U. of Phoenix Settles Discrimination Suit for $1.9-Million

The University of Phoenix and its parent company, Apollo Group Inc., will pay nearly $1.9-million to people who worked as online enrollment counselors and alleged in a federal lawsuit that the giant for-profit university discriminated against non-Mormon employees.

The payment will help settle a lawsuit that was filed two years ago in U.S. District Court in Phoenix by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the counselors (The Chronicle, September 29, 2006). The lawsuit accuses the University of Phoenix of giving employees who belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the most promising “leads,” the industry term for information on prospective students. It also alleges that lesser-qualified Mormon counselors were promoted ahead of their non-Mormon counterparts, and that tuition waivers were granted to Mormon employees who failed to meet registration goals but withheld from non-Mormon workers, among other charges.