Online Program Manager

As part of EdTech, Online Program Managers (OPMs) provide products and services on which educational institutions can run online courses. OPMs, mostly for-profit enterprises, have allowed universities to enter into the online education business and gain market share without the need to build their own platform. In effect, online program managers are also outsourcers of edtech labor. OPMs have grown substantially as universities have seen the benefit of students reaching beyond their geographical area while recognizing their lack of skills in creating, maintaining, and optimizing online courses. Proponents of outsourcing from for-profit companies say that it "helps universities save money and makes them more nimble and efficient." Moody's Dennis Gephardt, however warns that "more and more are cutting closer to the academic core."

History

For-profit colleges are the progenitors of online program managers. In 1973, San Jose University professor John Sperling, created the Institute of Professional Development (IPD), a company servicing a few colleges. IPD was the predecessor to the University of Phoenix. Fueled by Wall Street investors, for-profit colleges gained increased market share until 2010–2011, but declined in strength afterward. OPMs increased in number and power during the decline of for-profit colleges, and they are expected to continue growing revenues for several more years. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the move of college courses to online format, a trend that is likely to continue.
In 2018 and 2020 two former for-profit college companies, Kaplan Higher Education and Zovio, became online program managers. In 2021, two massive open online course (MOOC) developers, Coursera and edX, became part of the for-profit OPM business.

Growth (2007-2018)

In 2007, Academic Partnerships was created. The next year, 2U was created. Noodle Partners was formed in 2010. Coursera, and edX, two massive online open course providers (MOOCs), were founded in 2012, Pearson acquired EmbanetCompass, and John Wiley bought Deltak.
Construct Education and iDesign were formed in 2013, Keypath Education in 2014. In 2014, 2U became a publicly traded company. As edtech outsourcers, OPMs like Academic Partnerships were considered money making machines that could reduce the cost of courses by 85 percent. In 2015, Emeritus was founded. By 2018 there were 25 to 30 OPMs. OPM revenues were expected to grow from a $4 billion industry in 2020 to $10 billion by 2025. "

Scrutiny and Consolidation (2018-present)

In 2018, Inside Higher Education published "A Tipping Point for OPM?" which stated that most experts thought a "shakeout" would be occurring among Online Program Managers. Kaplan Higher Education became the OPM for Purdue University Global. Kaplan had previously owned the school.

In 2019, 2U shares dropped more than 50 percent when it lowered its growth expectations. The Century Foundation found that many universities reached bad deals with OPMs and called for the institutions to take more control over their online efforts. The Century Foundation characterized OPMs as 'predatory for-profit actors masquerading' as public universities." MOOCs were also criticized for their low completion rates, typically about 3 percent.

In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced colleges and universities to quickly move to fully online content, increasing demand for OPM support.
OPMs gained even greater scrutiny and criticism. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown called for five OPMs to disclose the terms of their contracts with colleges and universities in order to determine whether they were violating laws to safeguard consumers from predatory enrollment practices. The companies mentioned were 2U, Academic Partnerships, Bisk Education, Pearson Learning and Wiley Education Services. In an analysis of 70 schools, the Century Foundation reported that "this growing private control—which is often hidden from public view—is jeopardizing the quality of online programs, stripping control from colleges and universities, and putting students at risk of predatory behavior and abuse at the hands of for-profit companies." Noodle acquired a competitor, HotChalk. Zovio also became the OPM for The University of Arizona Global Campus, after previously owning the school once known as Ashford University.

In 2021, two MOOCS became OPMs. Coursera became a publicly traded corporation, valued at about $6 billion. 2U also announced that they would be combining forces with edX, "to create an entity that would reach 50 million learners and serve most of the best universities in the United States and the world." The acquisition cost was $800 million. An article in Slate referred to expensive online master's degrees offered by OPMs as higher education's "second biggest scam." Udemy also became a publicly traded corporation. In November 2021, the Wall Street Journal had an expose on 2U and its aggressive marketing tactics.

In 2022, a survey of chief online learning officers found that OPMs weren’t "meeting their expectations for marketing and recruitment, even though these are the services the college officials said they needed most."

Operations

According to the Hechinger report, "OPMs market the programs, recruit students, counsel them through the admissions process, enroll them, provide the software and tech support needed for the programs to function and even help instructors design online-friendly courses." In return, OPMs are entitled to portions of the revenue.
Marketing and advertising are the largest expenses for OPMs. 2U, for example, spends $300-$400 million in marketing and advertising in a single year, and 22 percent of all tuition costs go to "customer acquisition." Coursera spends more than one third of its revenues on sales and marketing.

In 2019, higher education analyst Kevin Carey stated:
"...OPMs are transforming both the economics and the practice of higher learning. They help a growing number of America’s most-lauded colleges provide online degrees—including Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, NYU, UC Berkeley, UNC Chapel Hill, Northwestern, Syracuse, Rice and USC, to name just a few. The schools often omit any mention of these companies on their course pages, but OPMs typically take a 60 percent cut of tuition, sometimes more."

In 2021, Coursera described an emerging strategy called the "consumer flywheel": creating stackable content and credentials from leading brand universities.

The revenue sharing model has been increasingly questioned inside and outside the industry as online learning has matured, and colleges gain more skills in this area, with some seeking a fee-for-service arrangement rather than a revenue sharing model.

Both Phil Hill and HolonIQ have also marked the increase in the fee for service market as universities select unbundled services to supplement their internal capabilities. These services are part of the evolution in the OPM space, known as Online Program Enablement (OPE or OPX).

This evolution will most likely continue in the maturation of the hybrid learning market.

List of for-profit online program managers and the schools they service

* 2U services programs at more than 130 U.S. colleges, including American University, Baylor University, George Washington University, Harvard University, Pepperdine University, Rice University, Syracuse University, University of California, Berkeley, University of North Carolina, University of Southern California, and Washington University.
* Academic Partnerships is or has been a servicer for more than 50 schools, including, Boise State, University of Texas at Arlington, and Florida International University.
* AllCampus
* AnswerNet
* Blackboard
* Capital Education
* CEG Digital
* Cintana Education serves Arizona State University.
* Collegis Education

Construct
is a fee for service OPX company that supports programs at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, University of Michigan, University of Tennessee, University of Washington, and Tulane University.
* Coursera offers bachelor's degrees from Arizona State University, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania.
* Emeritus, includes courses from MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School, Tuck Executive Education, MIT xPRO, Wharton Executive Education, UC Berkeley Executive Education, Kellogg Executive Education, and Harvard Medical School.

Didasko Group
(provider of OPM services to global universities)
* Everspring Partners
* Extension Engine
* FutureLearn
* Grand Canyon Education owns Orbis and serves Grand Canyon University.
* iDesign
* InStride (OPM for Arizona State University)
* Kaplan Higher Education servicer of Purdue University Global and the Purdue University system
* Keypath Education supports programs at Aston University, Baylor University, Carson-Newman University, Central Christian College of Kansas, Deakin University, Edith Cowan University, Elmhurst University, Emerson College, Florida State University, James Cook University, Kettering University, Keuka College, Laurier University, Marymount University, Michigan Technological University, Pepperdine University, RMIT University, Southern Cross University, Spring Arbor University, St. Bonaventure University, Suffolk University, Sunway University, Texas Woman's University, University of Canberra, University of Exeter, UNSW Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, Victoria University, Walsh University, Wilkes University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
* Laureate Education, parent company of Walden University.
* Learning House
* Noodle Partners services University of Michigan (Ross and Nursing), Harvard Kennedy School, University of Pittsburgh (Health Informatics and Physical Therapy), Boston College, Tulane, University of Virginia, Southern Methodist University, New York University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and University of Tennessee.
* Pearson Online Learning Services (POLS) (a unit of Pearson) provides services to around 40 institutions. Its partner schools are or have included Bradley University, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Wake Forest University, Brandeis University, Case Western Reserve, George Washington University, Boston University, Pepperdine University, University of Florida, Northeastern University, Howard University, Washington State University, University of San Francisco, Ohio University, University of Arizona, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, University of Cincinnati, University of Illinois, Chicago, Maryville University, Kent State University, Portland State University, Rider University, Rutgers, and University of North Dakota. Their contract with Arizona State University is set to end June 2023. (POLS formerly did business as EmbanetCompass and as eCollege.)
* Studio Enterprise, serves South University and the Art Institutes.
* Strut Learning, emphasizes competency-based education and services South College, University of Maine at Presque Isle, and University of Massachusetts Global
* Synergis Education
* Udacity
* Udemy
* Unicorn
* University18, serves University of Mysore, Guru Nanak Dev University, Kuvempu University, and Don Bosco University.
* University Alliance (US) is a division of Bisk, servicing Villanova University, University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, Michigan State University, Florida Institute of Technology, Jacksonville University, University of South Florida, and New England College.
* Wiley Education Solutions services University of West Florida, Northern Illinois University, Michigan State University
* Zovio services Ashford University, Fullstack Academy, and University of San Diego for a cybersecurity bootcamp

See also

* EdTech
* For-profit higher education in the United States
* Massive open online course

References

{{reflist

E-learning
Higher education in the United States