Partners or competitors?
Commercial Providers of Higher Education
John Davies 02/11/12
Pearson College Partners or competitors?
Competition
The implication is that the Commercial sector is
competition.....
Whereas individual institutions in the HE sector are part of a
'collegiate' body where partnership working is the norm, there
is no competition and all accrued revenues are employed for
the student good, and not for shareholders.....
"...Universities are locked in combat with each other in some
form of worldwide competition."
What are Universities for? Stephan Collini, p.470
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Pearson College Partners or competitors?
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How commercial are HEIs?
With individual University marketing budgets in excess
of £2million and the tube plastered with HE posters.....
With large International operations, International league tables,
employer investment, a decline in some HEIs of HEFCE funding
as a proportion of income, deals, inducements, business cases,
rationalising courses and selling off properties.
Pearson College Partners or competitors?
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Competition from within....
Is the biggest threat to the sector the increased
commercialisation of HEIs?
"....the imposition of commercial priorities and the requirement
that Universities serve the needs of business has reflected the
growing confidence of those who speak for 'the economy' that
they have an unchallengeable legitimacy which they believe those
who represent culture, intellect, and education simply cannot
match."
What are Universities for? Stephan Collini, p.470
"Though private provision is still a tiny proportion of the whole
sector...."
Dissatisfied customers, Anna Fazackerley, The Guardian, 0210-12, p.36
Pearson College Partners or competitors?
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Commercial providers, what are they supposed to do?
The White Paper proposals
The main plan was to remove the regulatory barriers to new
providers and allow a speedier route to DAP. The second part
of the plan was to abolish Student Number Control, whilst
maintaining levels of spend.
"This will further improve student choice by supporting a more
diverse sector, with more opportunities for part-time or
accelerated courses, sandwich courses, distance learning and
higher level vocational study"
Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System, p.5
Pearson College Partners or competitors?
Commercial providers
Who are they?
Laureate and Kaplan are working with various Universities to
offer distance learning. BPP and College of Law are linked to
various professions.
Private Colleges are changing. University of Buckingham and
the New College of the Humanities - niche providers.
"People are not units and foot soldiers in an economic battle"
The Sunday Times Magazine, 16-09-12, p.46
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Pearson College Partners or competitors?
Commercial providers
Who are they?
Laureate and Kaplan are working with various Universities to
offer distance learning. BPP and College of Law are linked to
various professions.
Private Colleges are changing. University of Buckingham and
the New College of the Humanities - niche providers.
"People are not units and foot soldiers in an economic battle"
The Sunday Times Magazine, 16-09-12, p.46
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Pearson College Partners or competitors?
Pearson College plans
We plan to work in partnership with a group of colleges
We do not have DAP, so we will work in partnership with a
group of Further Education Colleges in order to deliver our
qualifications. We will also work with groups direct within
Pearson College.
We will work in areas that build on HND provision; Business
and Enterprise, Engineering and Computer Science.
We aim to gain DAP so that we can validate programmes for
our partner colleges in the future.
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Pearson College Title of presentation
Questions
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