Now more than ever, colleges and universities are accelerating their efforts to develop online degree programs. Partnering with an Online Program Managers (OPMs) offer one potential path to this end. This panel probes the pros and cons of these relationships, with practical advice from national experts on how to effectively analyze and engage with a potential online partner.
To help traditional universities compete in the fast-growing but highly competitive and complex online program market, a category of private companies has emerged that partners with institutions to launch and grow programs that are exclusively online. Commonly known as Online Program Managers (OPMs), these companies provide both the capital and the expertise to enable schools build and market their online degree programs with less cost and shared risk. While some companies operate on a fee for service basis, the more typical approach is as a financial partnership, with each side contributing resources to the enterprise and sharing the revenue on a split basis, ranging generally between 40 percent and 60 percent. These agreements are typically long-term, averaging 7 to 10 years, to allow the private partner a sufficient period to realize a return on the initial investment. Though expertise can vary by partner, OPMs generally provide services in a few principal areas: market research, marketing and lead generation, enrollment management, student retention services, and technology-related support. Instructional design and curriculum developments services are often included to help faculty build and refresh online courses. Hear from a panel of peers (university presidents, provosts, directors of online learning) who share their experience in growing online programs via partnership. The goal is to provide practical suggestions in three key areas: (1) how to determine whether to partner or not (2) how to run a competitive partner search process and (2) how to negotiate partnership contracts that make sense for your institution. About the moderator: James Sparkman is a partner of Alpha Education (www.alpha-education.com) and co-producer of the P3•EDU: Innovation and Public-Private Partnership conference at George Mason University (www.p3edu.com). He is the principal author of the P3•EDU 100 (with Dr. Michelle Marks, Chancellor-elect of University of Colorado Denver) and the upcoming Online Partnership Handbook (2020). He has advised college and university leaders exploring online partnerships since 2014. https://www.p3edu.com/speaker/james-sparkman/ See also: https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/05/08/their... https://www.p3edu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ten-Tips-For-Successful... https://www.p3edu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-P3%E2%80%A2EDU-100... https://www.p3edu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-Public-Private-Par... https://www.p3edu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/The-New-Era-of-Public-P...