How would you like to invest in a company poised to exploit the following tremendous market opportunity?
- The industry is a fertile new market, ripe for business investment
- Represents potential large economies of scale
- Industry is currently poorly run, has high costs, and low technology utilization
- Generates large amounts of revenue
- Market is growing and is increasingly global
The industry investment opportunity you ask? Higher education.
This according to a recent investment prospectus received by Dr. Andy DiPaolo, Executive Director, Stanford Center for Professional Development, and the opening session speaker at the 2008 Association of Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) Conference. I'm attending the conference and will be presenting on Tuesday.
Dr. DiPaolo topic, "Choices and Challenges: Lessons Learned in the Evolution of Online Education," addressed the promises and perils of online professional education.
The investment opportunity I noted above came from an actual prospectus (a legal document used to inform investors) he received from a company planning to enter the higher education market space.
It's interesting to see how others view our industry - great market potential and constant revenue streams, yet poorly managed, straddled with high costs, and technology-averse.
According to Dr. DiPaolo, for-profit companies that have been successful in online continuing and professional education share the following:
- They pick the low-hanging fruit by delivering academic programs that are in demand. They leave the liberal arts to the traditional universities. Dr. DiPaolo noted that they had tried offering liberal studies programs without success.
- They apply commercial grade marketing and selling skills
- They operate in an environment free from academic politics and bureacracy
In today's extraordinary economic times, there is no better time than the present to learn these lessons, evaluate your approach to outreach and engagement, focus on students, and break down barriers.
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