Content written by Goldie Blumenstyk and published by The Chronicle of Higher Education
MBA News Digest Comment: None.
Extracted Content: A few weeks ago, when I wrote about Southern New Hampshire University, I called it a forerunner of a new breed of institution, the nonprofit mega-university. Now I have a confession to make: I’m still not exactly sure what that means, or what it could lead to.
But it’s obvious to me, and to others I spoke with in the course of reporting that article, that the emergence of mega-universities — institutions like Southern New Hampshire and Western Governors University, with big online footprints, a heavy reliance on adjuncts, and standardized curricular models — will change how higher education is provided.
Other colleges, with smaller online programs, are already feeling the pricing pressure and competitive impact, and those that have yet to enter that arena could find it harder and harder to get any traction. In the words of Russell Poulin, director of policy and analysis for the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, “The University of Whatever doing one more M.B.A., that’s going to be hard.”