Summer 2011: controversy facing trident university international

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Stu_Dent, Jun 2, 2012.

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  1. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Here's a .org site - University of Salamanca - almost 800 years old. I was once taught by a Prof. who graduated from this school. It opened in 1218 - he might have been one of the early grads! :) Spanish Courses at Salamanca University

    Johann
     
  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I also found a few provincially-authorized (= accredited, in US terms) Canadian Community Colleges, widely dispersed across Canada that have dot.com sites. Here's one of several with dot.com sites in my home province. I also found some in British Columbia.

    Algonquin College

    Johann
     
  3. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the info, Johann.

    The .com's are interesting, because in the U.S. that usually tends to be considered a bad thing image-wise for educational institutions. I suppose this isn't the case around the world.
     
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    True. I remember Strayer University's DL slogan: "This is not Dot.com University - this is substance."

    Well, maybe so - but it ain't Sorbonne, either! :)

    Johann
     
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

  6. Stu_Dent

    Stu_Dent New Member

    I was shocked today to learn that legendary educator Dr. JD Eveland, who had been a mainstay of Trident University International's doctoral program and with the institution for twelve years was laid off a few days ago as indicated on his profile on LinkedIn:

    "I have been "laid off" by Trident University, on no notice, after 12 years of dedicated, conscientious, and highly competent and effective service."

    Prof. Eveland was one of the few core faculty instrumental in delivering high quality education on Trident's doctoral program and his dismissal surely provides a further signal that they are either downgrading or even terminating their doctoral program.

    Beyond that Prof. Eveland was one of the most highly respected scholars at Trident University International and stood head and shoulders above most of the rest of the full-time faculty there in terms of his knowledge, capabilities and dedication and this treatment of a hugely respected academic beggars belief.
     
  7. _T_

    _T_ New Member

    As someone who is currently in the final stages of my dissertation, I'd be interested in hearing more about why you feel this way. Also, in an effort to help determine if this is indeed the case, I'm going to reach out to some of the folks I know at Trident and see if they can offer any additional insight. More to come...
     
  8. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Well, I guess when it comes to Trident there's always something to chew on.
     
  9. rmm0484

    rmm0484 Member

    I got it! I really got it!:lmao::haha:
     
  10. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Got a point there. (Three, actually.)
     
  11. rmm0484

    rmm0484 Member

     
  12. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    It seems Canadian do not have *ac.ca or *edu.ca domain. All accredited colleges and universities utilize *.ca domain. It is really easy to obtain *.ca domain.
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Exactly...
     
  14. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Yorktown University Yorktown University is one of the few accredited universities with a .com address. They are accredited by the DETC, albeit under a Show Cause order (hopefully they'll survive).
     
  15. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    lol.......
     
  16. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    Actually Yorktown University has an .edu address; but I assume they still keep the domain name prior accreditation grant. URL: Yorktown University
     
  17. Stu_Dent

    Stu_Dent New Member

    (This is a reply to the post from a forum member who said he'd check with Trident University to find out what's been happening. My apologies - it ought to have gone after his post but I must have hit the wrong button).

    When checking I suggest you ask whether Prof. Eveland, Prof. Flaschner and Prof. Wenli Wang, all of whom were central to Trident University's doctoral program, are still employed there. Do not rely on the list of faculty on the website as despite firing full-time faculty when last I checked their profiles were still being displayed by the university.

    I'd also suggest asking what other faculty have recently been fired as I am led to believe that the Director of the Undergraduate Business degree program was dismissed along with a number of others.

    On top of this ruthless cost-cutting I also learned from another discussion site (BaseOps Forums) today that Trident University International is putting up its tuition fees for courses by 20%. As Tuition Assistance is not rising this will result in many currently enrolled students whose education was formerly free now having to find additional funds out of their own pockets.

    Put these facts together and you get a picture of an institution facing severe financial difficulties and willing to cut its educational quality to save money. As far as I know there's been no public communication to let students know what's going on there so the newly vaunted openness has rapidly gone by the wayside once the show-cause crisis was past. Maybe Trident's new President Sansing, who was formerly with Argosy, will get around to making another video on YouTube to explain what is going on there but in the meantime staff, students and faculty alike can only speculate.

    One not unreasonable speculation is that with all this going on and the uncertainty it's creating both the faculty who were not fired and the students who remain will be thinking twice about whether they should stay with Trident and one might expect that some will decide that their prospects are better elsewhere. The effect of that of course would be to further exacerbate the financial problem and to reduce educational quality. Indeed it seems that Trident has decided to change its model to put a far grater emphasis on part time faculty, in a manner similar to many other online schools.

    Another speculation is that Summit Partners, the university's venture-capitalist owners, have had enough and are making changes which will enable them to cut their losses and sell the place on.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 14, 2012
  18. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Summit owns a lot of different businesses, but has been putting some of them up for sale lately. They sold off their "Mutual Fund Store" operation in 2011, and currently their "Focus Financial" operation is for sale as well. There's no reason to think that Summit would treat TUI any differently from their other investments -- they would unload TUI immediately if the right offer came along.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 14, 2012
  19. Stu_Dent

    Stu_Dent New Member

    Summit Partners is a venture capital investment organization. Thus they buy business in expectation that they will add value to them and then either sell them on to other owners or take them public. Thus selling TUI should the right offer come along was a given from the moment they bought the place. That they are selling other business they have invested in is also to be expected as that's what they do for a living, (unless you mean that they are selling a lot more than usual or are suddenly off-loading a lot of their investments in the education sector?).

    My concern is whether they are now making radical changes at Trident University International to induce that "right" offer, what those changes are and how they are likely to affect current and future students as well as faculty there.
     
  20. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    You are quite correct. Summit's business is to buy and sell businesses. TUI is simply one of the many businesses that they have bought. Summit has no long-term commitment to providing higher education services; their goal is to eventually make a profit from TUI by selling it (or taking it public) for a higher price than they paid for it. But it's worth spelling this out explicitly, for those who aren't familiar with Summit's business model and the possible implications for TUI. It's likely that many TUI students have no idea who the owner is.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 14, 2012

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