Tuesday, February 5, 2002

United States Open University Announces It Will Close in June By MICHAEL ARNONE Blaming insufficient revenues and inadequate enrollments, the United States Open University announced Monday that it would shut down in June. "We couldn't get on a path to solvency quickly enough," said Richard S. Jarvis, chancellor of the online institution, which opened two years ago as a branch of the Open University in Great Britain. The British institution, which is well-regarded internationally as a high-quality provider of distance education, will have spent around $20-million by year's end on the American project, Mr. Jarvis said, and enrollment was not growing fast enough to keep debt from accruing too quickly. The university's board decided on January 30 to pull the plug, but felt an obligation to students and staff members not to close the virtual doors of the institution until the end of the spring semester, he said. The announcement saddened and surprised some of the university's academic partners. "It was news to me," said Arthur L. Scott, vice president and provost at Northampton County Area Community College in Bethlehem, Pa. Northampton had made a deal just last month to join a nationwide partnership that the United States Open University had created to enable students to seek bachelor's degrees after completing their associate degrees. The university suffered because it lacked both accreditation and name recognition among American students, Mr. Jarvis said. Also, the university couldn't offer federal financial aid or employer reimbursement to its students, two important considerations to the part-time, working-adult population the university sought to serve. Nor could the university attract transfer students from other institutions. And while the Open University has a good reputation within American academe, many American students haven't heard of it, said Mr. Jarvis. Making partnerships with American institutions didn't overcome the recognition gap in time, he said. The university opened in the spring of 2000 with five courses and 90 students. Enrollments have about doubled every semester, Mr. Jarvis said, and in the fall of 2001 the university had 660 course registrations for more than 30 courses. Unfortunately, it had projected that it would have around 800 students enrolled by that time. Ironically, the announcement came as the university was looking forward to a final site visit this month for its accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The university had expected to see an uptick in enrollment once the accreditation came through, Mr. Jarvis said. The university had already won accreditation from the Distance Education and Training Council, which offers national accreditation for distance-learning institutions, but which is not nearly as well known as the traditional regional accrediting groups. The university is notifying its students of the closing and will help them continue their studies elsewhere, Mr. Jarvis said. About two-thirds of students are in two joint programs: a master's-degree program in information systems with the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and a bachelor's-degree program in business administration with Indiana State University. Students in those two programs should have no trouble keeping their credits, he said. He added that the university would help the remaining students find institutions that will accept their credits. "Losing the partnership is a real loss for us," said Scott A. Bass, dean of the graduate school and vice provost for research at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. The United States Open University, he said, had provided necessary administrative support for putting his university's program online. Now his institution will have to either provide the support itself, find another partner, or outsource, he said. Mr. Bass said that enrollment growth in the master's program was larger and faster than anticipated and that his university would see its first graduate in May. Given that success and the reputation of the Open University in Britain, he said, he was surprised that the American institution was closing. Most of the full-time faculty members for the institution's distance-education courses work at the Open University in Britain and adapted their British courses to an American audience, Mr. Jarvis said. They will remain employed, but the administrators and part-time faculty members that the United States Open University hired will lose their jobs. Mr. Jarvis said he was looking for a new position himself. "We had great hopes for USOU," said Michael P. Lambert, executive director of the Distance Education and Training Council. "This was a solid, classy organization. We're sorry to see it go." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

THE 2003 BUDGET President's budget proposal for 2003 seeks no increases in student-aid programs Biomedical research would get the bulk of increase for science agencies Increase for NIH would expand number of new grants awarded National Science Foundation would get 5-percent increase AmeriCorps budget would climb by more than half NASA would get slight increase, but Bush proposes some major changes Pentagon funds for basic research would decline by $10.8-million Agricultural-research budget would stay flat; ag-studies program would benefit Energy-research programs would see meager increase Arts and humanities endowments would get small increases Information-technology research would enjoy modest growth in support Details of the budget: a chart Homeland-security director outlines anti-terrorism role for colleges Texas A&M U. calls off bonfire for this year, citing safety and cost concerns ABA grants provisional accreditation to Barry U. law school Mexico's Supreme Court orders investigation into 1968 shooting of hundreds of students Historians in India denounce new social-science curriculum as politically motivated United States Open University announces it will close in June