Sylvan Learning Systems to Acquire National Technological U. Sylvan has bought the non-profit National Technological University. NTU offers courses from about 50 top RA universities. These courses are packaged into structured sets of courses for each major. NTU's curriculum guidelines are well thought out, and the academic advisors are senior tenured faculty at NTU affiliate universities. These advisors ensure that students approach the "best of breed" course selection that NTU makes possible (and avoid the possible tendency of some to take the easiest courses amongst the wide selection available). Incidentally, I am a registered -- though not very active -- student in NTU's Computer Science program. So I can affirm NTU's strenghts (as well as its rather extreme costs) from personal experience. This purchase raises some obvious concerns. Here's a snippet from the Chronicle story: Sylvan and NTU are talking with NTU's member universities about the acquisition, Mr. Vacroux and Mr. Drake said. "I've heard reactions from 'No problem' to 'Let's see what happens,'" Mr. Vacroux said. "The jury is still out, but it could be a good thing for NTU," said Barry Willis, who is associate provost and associate dean for engineering at the University of Idaho, one of the member institutions ... ... Michael R. Zastrocky, vice president for academic services at Gartner Inc., a technology-consulting firm, said the acquisition "adds credibility to Sylvan as a major player because they now have graduate degrees in engineering." What benefits NTU will reap from the partnership remain to be seen, he said From a personal viewpoint, I am worried about defections by universities that don't want to be associated with Sylvan, and by the potential for even higher costs.
On the surface, there appears to be no reason why a university would care about Sylvan's ownership. When a non-profit organization elects to sell their operations, it's usually due to financial problems. Sylvan wouldn't have purchased the University unless they were willing to make the necessary financial commitment. In the end, if I were a student I wouldn't be concerned.
On 2-21-02, the 'Chronicle of Higher Education' reported that Sylvan had acquired Walden University. Now NTU. I wonder if Sylvan will eventually roll them together, perhaps along with some other elements, and try to create a full scale DL university. Perhaps they could incorporate some of their existing Sylvan Learning Centers to host stuff like examinations and local cluster groups, Nova-style.
Except for the "training vs. education" and "pseudouniversity vs. university" elitism discussed in another thread. NTU started as a non-profit and then established a for-profit organization that acquired the former PBS educational wing ("The Business Channel"). This for-profit side has apparently brought financial ruin to the combined organization (Stratys Learning Solutions).
A very intriguing idea. Interesting opportunities might also arise by leveraging NTU's connections to its 50 affiliates (which include the likes of Columbia and UC Berkeley) to offer programs outside of engineering and computer science. I see that the NTU web-site says that the Sylvan takeover occurred in February 2002, even though it was only reported today in the Chron.
Interesting concept Take Walden with business, education and social sciences combine with NTU on engineering and hard sciences and you do have a well rounded university. Just one question with Walden running $300 to $350 per credit hour and NTU runing $560 to $1000+, which will change?
