University partnerships with Online Program Managers, Bootcamp and MOOC providers are growing at a record rate to support institutional objectives for online delivery, enrolment growth and expansion into new markets.
The third webinar in our Higher Education Digital Transformation series offered a snapshot of the global ‘state of play’ in academic public-private-partnerships. We heard insights about how these models are growing and evolving, and what scenarios might be next. The webinar is part of a 2021 HolonIQ series exploring new models, technologies and partnerships emerging in Higher Education.
Attendees were actively involved in chat and questions, especially regarding online program expansion, skills training and bootcamps. Over 90% indicated in our first poll that these were areas where they saw most interest or strongest growth in public-private partnerships in higher education.
Partnerships and the Learner Lifecycle.
University partnerships, especially OPMs, can stretch across the whole learner lifecycle in the Higher Education Digital Capability Framework, from product strategy to lifelong learning. Very large OPMs can have broad capabilities across all domains, whilst specialist OPMs may offer services in a specific industry, geography or program type.
Looking more closely, ‘Demand and Discovery’ (DD) highlights the traditional strengths of OPMs in digital recruitment, especially for high value, high stakes programs; ‘Learning Design’ (LD) has been a key area for OPMs in designing digital curriculum and learning, whilst ‘Learner Experience’ (LX) takes us into OPM learner support and engagement, MOOC platforms and Bootcamp delivery models. Finally, the ‘Work & Lifelong Learning’ Dimension shows deep partnerships developing with industry focussing on employability, upskilling and hiring relationships across various models.
When asked for which part of the lifecycle they saw the greatest benefit from public-private partnerships, 60% of attendees selected Work & Lifelong Learning, compared to just 19% Demand and Discovery, 11% Learner Experience and 9% Learning Design.
