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Online Learning News and Research
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Friday, June 28, 2002
http://www.westga.edu/%7Edistance/ojdla/summer52/bleak52.html Insulated or Integrated: For-Profit Distance Education in the Non-Profit University Jared Bleak, doctoral student, Harvard University Introduction As colleges and universities pursue market-oriented activities in search of added revenue, increased enrollments, and greater prestige and visibility for their "brand names," they are increasingly turning to the for-profit company as a means to meet these goals. This is particularly evident as non-profit colleges and universities create for-profit subsidiaries to deliver distance education. These subsidiaries are aimed principally at the $3.5 billion online education market, which is projected to expand to $7 billion nationally and $25 billion worldwide by 2003 (Goldman, 2000, April 3; Rewick, 2001, March 12; Eklund, 2001, January 26). With the creation (and now demise, in several instances) of these companies has come controversy, with some faculty claiming that the culture of the academy is being irreparably altered, as traditional models of shared governance are being replaced by a top-down, corporate style management, or by some hybrid. Some faculty members have charged that these companies enable trustees and administrators to circumvent the normal channels of governance (Carr, 2000, March 4). Faculty feel "out of the [governance] loop" (Carr, 1999, Dec. 17, p. A46) and bypassed in the decision-making process (Abel, 2000, June 15). As one professor commented, for-profit subsidiaries "put the standard rules of academic governance on [their] head" (Abel, 2000, June 15, p. A21)....
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