ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT COMPETITION COMING IN FROM FOR-PROFIT INSTITUTIONS AND E-LEARNING COMPANIES?

ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT COMPETITION COMING IN FROM FOR-PROFIT INSTITUTIONS AND E-LEARNING COMPANIES?

Perhaps Matkin summed it up best when he said "No. I feel that if we can’t distinguish ourselves from those institutions, then we should not be associated with universities." Finney added that "at the end of the day, they (for-profit entities) have to make their shareholders happy. For us, at the end of the day, we have to make our students happy." However, some of the other interviewees, including Matkin and Finney, also talked about partnership possibilities with the for-profit sector, but many of these possibilities were slow-moving and only in the discussion phase at the time of these interviews (see Q & A about partnerships).

Heeger: I worry about them in terms of competing with us; on the other hand, I have no illusions. We are not a for-profit entity; I don’t have millions of dollars to market the institution. Our goal at UMUC is to build the best university for adults in the world using online education as a modality. Does that mean we have to be the biggest? No. Does it mean that we have to be the best in terms of how we work with our students and the intellectual quality of our work and the quality of our student services? Yes. And does it mean that we want to be leaders in producing research in the pedagogy of online learning and the like? Absolutely. So, I think our challenge is to confront the Capellas and the Phoenixes in the marketplace, but not let them define us as a university.

Magid: We think there are lessons to be learned from the private sector. We don’t view them as competition, but we do view them as an interesting and useful business model. And potentially we can partner with them in delivering some of our products to other parts of the market.

Lynch: For GWSolutions and continuing education, we see it as a possibility for licensing some materials from companies like SmartForce and then integrating them [with ours]. One of our strategies is not to reinvent the wheel, but to license good curriculum that passes our standards test and then - where we believe it needs enhancing with extra services and user support and perhaps even additional content - we can add value to those courses.

Almeda: There’s no doubt it’s a more competitive world than it was. But the success of for-profit programs demonstrates a couple of things. One is the large need of education, generally - part of which is not met today - and the need for flexibility and responsiveness when providing education. I think that having some of the for-profit entities engaged in this area reminds us in higher education that we need to be responsive to students. So I don’t see that as a problem. I think because it is such a good headline grabber, a lot of times people act like this is some kind of a dual - online education is going to take over the world, and traditional education won’t exist. I think that’s wrong-headed. I really think there is a lot of un-met need there. What we are really doing is expanding the opportunities and choices for students.