Waterbury’s Post University has significantly grown its business around its online education program, boasting more than 16,000 enrollees across the country.
Now the private, for-profit college, which is the largest provider of fully online programs in Connecticut, sees a new opportunity for expanding its services.
In addition to providing enrollment management and student support for its own pupils, Post’s Online Education Institute is beginning to consult other nonprofit universities as they enter the increasingly competitive online education market.
“Because there are substantial investments in infrastructure, student support services and training needed to build, launch and support online learning options, many schools are looking to partner with outside experts,” said Frank Mulgrew, president of Post’s Online Education Institute. “We’re one of those experts, and it was a natural fit for us to extend what’s being done so successfully at Post to other institutions.”
While it’s too early to talk specifics about any of the schools Post has been working with, Mulgrew said Post has spoken to dozens of institutions, and is working closely with several of them.
Mulgrew said he works with Tom Samph, Post’s CEO, and a team of other education entrepreneurs and academics to provide schools with the online learning options they need.
According to Mulgrew, there is tremendous growth in demand for high quality online learning options spurred by new technology, and a large swath of working adults who need to balance their education with career, family and other responsibilities.
Students’ desire for a completely online learning experience is encouraging many universities and colleges to enter the online market so they can capture a piece of that growing customer base.
“We’ve built the infrastructure, developed the processes, trained a team of online education experts, and continually evaluate and improve our model, all of which is clearly working very well for our students and the university as a whole,” Mulgrew said. “Most important, while we’re working with dozens of institutions at various levels, we are very much focused on helping them achieve their goals as an institution. Their mission is at the core of what we’re doing.”
Post University’s online roots stretch back to the mid ‘90s, when it started offering virtual learning options.
In 2004, Post had about 150 student taking classes online. Today, the school has more than 16,000 students enrolled in its online programs.
Nationwide, the popularity of online education has also grown, with nearly half of all college students now taking a course virtually, according to several recent studies.
Even once skeptical employers have begun to warm up to online education.
A 2011 study by Babson College, for example, found that 77 percent of chief academic officers in companies rate online learning as the same or superior to face-to-face education.
“There’s been a tremendous change in employer attitudes about the value of online learning — when provided by a quality institution,” Mulgrew said. “There’s a big difference between earning an online degree and earning a degree from an accredited university that offers online programs. The key here is the quality of the education — whether it’s delivered on a traditional campus or online.”
In the short 15 or so years online education has been around, it’s been one of the most heavily studied and evaluated means of providing education and the results have been positive said Don Mroz, Post’s president.
At the end of the day, Mroz says the quality of education will be evaluated by the quality of student outcomes, and the challenge is to ensure that all institutions of higher education are measuring student outcomes in an authentic, transparent and meaningful way.
“Online education is clearly a growth area,” Mroz said.
