“Some 62% of Post revenues [...]]]> An interesting report in the Observer newspaper on 22 August picked up that Kaplan’s parent company, the Washington Post, saw its share price fall to the lowest point this year as the row about defaults on student loans among private sector students in the USA continues. Peter Preston’s report noted:

“Some 62% of Post revenues last year come from the Kaplan private education empire it owns: 600 institutions in 30 countries, 1 million students, 31,000 staff. It’s a profitable empire over two dozen major sites in the UK alone. Think Liverpool, Leicester and Bradford, as well as Holborn College.

But in the US, its former students seem a bit slow at repaying their loans – repayment rates are 28% as opposed to 54% of alumni at public colleges – and federal financial aid is in jeopardy. So the share price plummets.”

Read the full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/22/washington-post-studen-loan-trouble

In January 2010, Australia-based Navitas sealed its first U.S. deal, a 10-year contract with Western Kentucky University.  Since then,  the company has signed three more  agreements – with the Universities of [...]]]> Inside Higher Ed reports that U.S. colleges are increasingly turning to for-profit pathway programs for international students in a bid to boost revenues.

In January 2010, Australia-based Navitas sealed its first U.S. deal, a 10-year contract with Western Kentucky University.  Since then,  the company has signed three more  agreements – with the Universities of Massachusetts at Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell.

Students entering the Navitas program at Western Kentucky will need deep pockets.  According to the fee schedule, the costs are over $22,000 for three semesters, plus a mandatory $1,000 medical insurance charge. The pre-master’s program is nearly $10,000 and runs just one semester.

With the U.S. recession clobbering college finances, other for-profit pathway providers are swooping down upon campuses across the country with promises of bountiful new revenue streams from full fee-paying international students. Study Group International, recently purchased by a U.S. private equity firm, is setting up programs at Dean and Fisher Colleges, and Madison University. Meanwhile, Kaplan International which already runs a “Global Pathways Program” at Northeastern University opened its second program earlier this year at the University of Utah.  And UK-based INTO has signed long-term contracts with Oregon State University and the University of South Florida.

INTO’s joint ventures with Oregon State and South Florida generated headlines earlier this year when the Commission on English Language Accreditation initially revoked the accreditation of the two universities’ English language institutes after they were taken over by INTO.

Ironically, the rising number of private pathways programs comes at a time when the U.S. Congress is looking at new rules to reign in the more questionable practices of many for-profit colleges. Surely it’s time to shine a similar light on Navitas, Study Group, Kaplan and INTO?

A scathing critique of the corporate university? No, it’s the latest television ad blitz by Kaplan University, the U.S.-based on-line for-profit [...]]]> A pensive  looking professor rises to the lectern, removes his glasses and surveys his class. “I stand before you today…to apologize,” he declares solemnly. “The system has failed you, I have failed you.”

A scathing critique of the corporate university? No, it’s the latest television ad blitz by Kaplan University, the U.S.-based on-line for-profit provider. The ad evokes some well-worn and insulting stereotypes of the ivory tower, and issues a call for a private sector revolution in higher education. No more classrooms, no more books, and definitely no more rumpled profs. Just an educational utopia of iPods, laptops and just in time education.

I admit the ad is well crafted. But it leaves out some important details…like just what is education all about anyway? According to Kaplan’s ad, it seems to be mainly about transmitting bytes from corporate HQ to isolated students — er, customers –  in bedrooms, kitchens and subways across the world.  Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t that a decidedly dystopic vision of the future of higher education?

A subsidiary of the Washington Post Company that started off in the test preparation business, Kaplan has expanded its operations in recent years and now provides an [...]]]> Kaplan Inc., the for-profit U.S.-based education provider, announced yesterday a joint venture with the University of Adelaide in Australia that will create the company’s first international campus.

A subsidiary of the Washington Post Company that started off in the test preparation business, Kaplan has expanded its operations in recent years and now provides an array of higher education programs, English language courses, professional training, and tutoring services. It has operations in more than 30 countries and annual revenues of $US 2.3 billion.

Kaplan already boasts that it’s one of the largest providers of real estate and financial services training in Australia, which in some eyes I suppose qualifies it for an easy leap into the country’s university market.  As part of their business deal, Adelaide and Kaplan are planning to offer on-line courses in “high quality career-oriented educational programs” –  that is to say, finance and business.

Incredibly, officials from Kaplan and Adelaide are proudly claiming their business partnership is meant to “break down barriers to education.” Now, would that be the barriers between public and private?

Interestingly, financial details of the joint venture have not been released.