About five years ago I began writing about the Education Business. The term was considered inflammatory. I liked that.
At that time I predicted a transformation in the culture and language sets surrounding the operation of higher education. It would move from one level to the next...
" The "Business Office" within higher education
" The Business of Education
" The Education Business
Now as we peer into 2008, the Education Business Enterprise is the predominate paradigm. It is no longer reserved for the aggressive for-profit sector of higher education. It is embraced throughout the industry from large state public institutions to small liberal arts colleges with 250 students. The term, as well as the perspective, is no longer "unholy."
What executives within higher education have discovered is that the perspective no longer needs to be an "either or" dichotomy. The often altruistic mission of higher education is accomplished through embracing an enterprise wide business approach. That is central to our work at Education Strategy.
Within that paradigm, there are two education market sectors that have a very steep growth trajectory well into the foreseeable future. As we peer into and beyond 2008, institutions that embrace these two market sectors are growing over six times faster than their counterparts - according to the recent SLOAN report.
These market sectors are:
" Adult Learners
" Online Learning
The combination of these two sectors packs a powerful punch. It translates into Education Business viability and long term sustainability.
The difficulty that many executives face can be summed up with the following common questions:
" How do I obtain the skill sets to maximize the market opportunity in each area and accomplish that task with rapid deployment?
" My traditional faculty do not have the skill sets or time to develop a fully integrated online curriculum for working adults. Where do I go from here?
" How do we develop or acquire curriculum that matches the aptitude of adult learners - not just the latest fad? It needs to be systematized, current and flexible for the target market.
" Curriculum notwithstanding, how do we deploy into these sectors and gain immediate market penetration?