2U completes purchase of edX, creating 'free to degree' platform

"Months after Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stunned the education-technology world by announcing they would sell the nonprofit online platform they created to a technology giant, the merger of the two entities, 2U and edX, became final today. Leaders of the two companies said the combination would offer a huge range of educational opportunities and become “the most important platform company” in education. The road to this moment had its bumps. Many academics who believed in edX’s nonprofit mission to expand access to learning argued that selling it to a for-profit company would inevitably undermine that calling, and some of those academics suggested they might flee. (Some of edX’s original investors and dues-paying university partners also had more practical concerns about not getting a cut of the $800 million that 2U agreed to pay Harvard and MIT for edX.)... Other notable elements of the agreement: The combined entity will include about 230 university and corporate partners, offering about 3,500 degrees, programs and courses to about 40 million learners. So far 27 of 2U’s roughly 80 partners have agreed to join the edX consortium and offer free open courses for the first time. They include Howard, Syracuse and Vanderbilt Universities, Morehouse College, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Several edX partners are creating new degree programs using 2U’s expanded muscle. Boston University is beginning a new master’s in public health degree priced at $24,000, and Google, IBM, MIT and Harvard have all recommitted to edX with new programs. EdX will become the primary brand under which the combined entity operates, with 2U moving into the background as the name of the parent company. (Paucek suggested Google/Alphabet as a comparison.)..."