That Fancy University Course? It Might Actually Come From an Education Company. - WSJ
peter.suber's bookmarks 2022-07-07
Summary:
"Christina Denkinger wanted something new after 14 years as an elementary-school teacher in Portland, Ore. After shopping around for a course in data analytics last fall, she requested information through a University of Oregon website portal for an online training program, called a boot camp, offered by the university’s continuing-education division.
She received a “uoregon.edu” email from someone identifying herself as admissions adviser for the boot camp. It had the university logo, and there was no mention in the email of 2U. Ms. Denkinger paid $11,995 to enroll last December.
“The only reason I signed up for this boot camp was because of the reputation of the university,” she said.
One month into the course, she was disappointed with the quality of instruction and began asking questions. That was when she realized that instructors and course materials were all provided by a unit of 2U, Trilogy Education Services.
When she went back and looked on the boot camp website, Ms. Denkinger saw “powered by Trilogy” at the bottom of the landing page....
2U, which isn’t accredited as a university, kept 80% of the tuition from the University of Oregon program, according to its contract with the university, which the Journal reviewed....
Not until the second day of class did Mr. Moore understand that all instruction and curriculum were provided by 2U, not university faculty. In signing up, he hadn’t noticed a disclosure on the website saying UCF was working “in partnership with Trilogy Education Services, a 2U, Inc. brand.”
The website described Trilogy as a “workforce accelerator.”...
Despite such contracts, the company hasn’t made an annual profit since it went public in 2014. Since 2019, it has spent more than $1.5 billion on acquisitions, including Trilogy in 2019 and the purchase last year of edX, an online platform with more than 40 million registered users created by professors at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...."