From: http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2001/jul/30/073001461.html?harcourt+online Virtual College Closes Its Doors BOSTON (AP) - Harcourt Higher Education, which launched a much-ballyhooed online college in Massachusetts last year, is closing the school's virtual doors this fall without a single mortarboard tossed in the air. The decision to shut down the college was made after Reed Elsevier, a Dutch-Anglo publisher of textbooks and medical books, bought Harcourt General Inc., then sold several of its subsidiaries, including Harcourt Higher Education, to Canada-based Thomson Corp. last autumn. The sale was completed July 13. "Thomson has decided that it will not continue to operate HHE as an independent degree granting institution after September 28, 2001. The decision is in line with Thomson's strategic business plans," Robert V. Antonucci, the president and chief executive of Harcourt Higher Education, wrote in a letter to the Board of Higher Education on Friday. In a statement, Thomson said the decision to close the college was the result of the change in ownership. Harcourt designed more than 100 courses, hired four deans and about 100 adjunct professors, and sank more than $10 million into the for-profit college. It was the most recent addition to the 85 colleges and universities that the state board of higher education oversees. Though an online college can be located anywhere, Harcourt chose Massachusetts to lay down its desktops because of the reputation of older, and slightly more conventional, academic institutions. Its founders hoped to catch up to other schools by enrolling as many as 20,000 students over five years. But students didn't overwhelm the servers of the virtual college's program of arts and sciences, information technology, business and health sciences. Between 20 and 30 students - Thomson isn't sure of the exact number - are currently enrolled in the online coursework. The remaining students will have their credentials reviewed by the U.S. Open University, the American affiliate of the Open University in England. Judith Gill, chancellor of the state board of higher education, said the announcement was not a reflection on the quality of the academic program that Harcourt had proposed to the board. "The board believed that Harcourt had indeed put together the quality program we would require," she said. "From the very beginning, there was the issue of whether this institution would continue because it was bought by another company," she said. "The company never really had the opportunity to get off the ground as a business" Paul J. LeBlanc, president of Vermont's Marlborough College and the chair of the team that evaluated the college's application to the Board of Higher Education, was not surprised that the college closed. He said the board had complete confidence that Harcourt was dedicated to its endeavor, but were concerned that the company's buyer would not be willing to make investments necessary for the college to succeed. "We had no way of knowing, and have no way of knowing today, what Thomson's view would be of a very high cash burn rate," he said. "It takes a long time to establish market share in that world."
Its founders hoped to catch up to other schools by enrolling as many as 20,000 students over five years. Between 20 and 30 students - Thomson isn't sure of the exact number - are currently enrolled in the online coursework. "From the very beginning, there was the issue of whether this institution would continue..." As Freddie Mercury would say, "Another one bites the dust." ------------------ -Rab
