How Acadeum’s industry partners are positioned to help.
The Covid-19 pandemic presented postsecondary education with a mandate to innovate — or, in some cases, to catch up to what students, employers, and other stakeholders have been demanding for years. Online offerings continue to drive revenue, and now, institutions are looking for low-risk ways to diversify and expand on opportunities in the online space.
Acadeum has responded by expanding our network of over 400 institutions to include corporate and non-profit partnerships, offering new content and services to enable institutions to:
- Develop alternative revenue streams in lifelong learning, continuing education, and co-curricular education
- Build enrollment pathways in employee education, international education, and high schools (through dual enrollment)
- Extend their impact, supporting student progress and persistence
This blog post highlights three pivotal trends for institutions to consider when shaping enrollment and revenue diversification strategies in 2022, and how Acadeum’s industry partners (shown below) can help.
We’re excited to partner with the following innovators in higher education, as a complement to our course sharing efforts: API Abroad, K-12/Stride, LINC Education, ReUp Education, Red Ventures, Coursera, Classfinder with Frank, Graduation Alliance, InStride, Portage, The World Grad, MedCerts, and more.
Setting Institutions Up for Success: 3 Trends to Watch
Recent predictions and higher ed industry data have highlighted critical areas of focus for institutions in 2022:
TREND #1: Institutions are looking to attract new student populations and recover tuition.
To combat ongoing enrollment declines exacerbated by the pandemic, two-and four-year institutions are being pushed to think outside the box, by:
- Better aligning their current curricula to workforce demands
- Being more opportunistic about awarding degree credit (e.g. for prior work experience and industry certifications)
- Engaging the “some college, no degree” adults via stop-out and drop-out recovery programs
How Acadeum is Responding:
As the pandemic took hold, large online players flooded the zone with multi-million dollar digital ad budgets, putting enormous pressure on traditional schools that were already facing existential threats. We know that schools in our network are looking for new ways to extend their enrollment reach in a cost-efficient manner.
- Our partnership with InStride is bringing new students to institutions in the Acadeum network from some of the largest employers in the US and beyond. Employees access their educational benefit at no cost, thanks to employer tuition reimbursement funds. This means more revenue for institutions, up-skilled employees, and a life-changing outcome for students.
- Students who have dropped out or haven’t re-enrolled for the upcoming semester represent millions of dollars in lost revenue and millions more in replacement costs. We’re working with partners like Graduation Alliance and ReUp Education to scaffold enrollment efforts, pairing each partner’s outreach capacity with Acadeum’s course inventory, to keep students in the fold and on track to graduation.
- Acadeum’s course sharing network comprises a diversity of institution types, regions, and fields of study. Our partners are connecting students in new and global markets to Acadeum’s online courses, including: high school students seeking dual credit (Stride/K12), international students seeking a U.S. credential (The WorldGrad), and students traveling abroad seeking courses for credit (API Abroad).
- Our first foray in direct-to-student marketing was a collaboration with Classfinder with Frank, designed to help students find discounted college courses for credit. We’re also partnering with Red Ventures, which reaches 90 million unique prospective students annually via its portfolio of over 60 higher ed websites, including BestColleges.com.
TREND #2: Now more than ever, students expect institutions to provide job-readiness opportunities.
Last year, Market Scale predicted that, “micro-credentialing will gain even more traction in 2021.” Students need faster, affordable, and flexible higher-ed options they can turn around and immediately use in the workplace. Additionally, College Confidential predicts that four-year colleges will expand the number of programs that offer vocational-technical-related credentials to students in areas like multimedia, web development, computer network architecture, and advanced computer programming.
How Acadeum is Responding:
- We work with community colleges, four-year partners, and third-party content developers like Coursera and Portage Learning to create new pathways that include industry-recognized credentials as part of a degree program. Catawba College began offering professional certificates through Coursera in September 2021, opening up more “convenient avenues for students to further their careers.”
- Our partnership with the Education Design Lab and the Yes We Must Coalition, will enable institutions to develop “micro-pathways” that streamline students’ paths to better-paying jobs and employers’ paths to full labor capacity.
TREND #3: Non-traditional degree programs and credentials are in demand.
Enrollments in Career Certificates and global skills initiatives will dramatically increase, according to University World News. Recently, LinkedIn has seen a 21% increase in job postings that advertise skills instead of degrees.
How Acadeum is Responding:
- Our Classfinder partnership with Frank yielded early proof points that Acadeum institutions are ready to serve prospective students who find their way into degree programs via direct-to-consumer websites.
Institutions in the Acadeum network are thinking outside-the-box when it comes to retaining and serving students. Let’s take a closer look at how a few institutions are leaning into one strategy: building degree pathways.
Spotlight: How Institutions are Building Career-Aligned Degree Pathways
Acadeum partner institutions like Wesleyan College, Franklin University, Bay Path University, and more are enabling students to acquire in-demand skills and put that credit toward associates and bachelors degrees. This includes credits earned in certificate programs designed by third parties, including:
- Coursera: Acadeum started working with the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider at the start of 2021 as the only authorized reseller of Coursera certifications. Since then, institutions such as Cambridge College, Catawba College, Trine University and Wesleyan College have started offering Coursera for Credit.
- MedCerts: Acadeum Teaching Institutions like Franklin University have done the course mapping necessary to award degree credit for certificates earned through MedCerts, a developer of short-term career training programs in healthcare, IT and professional development.
- MindEdge: Bay Path University is one of several partners to incorporate courses from MindEdge into its professional development offerings, and has bundled MindEdge modules to build its BUS270 course, which it will make available on Acadeum Course Share.
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The Acadeum Alliances team is focused on connecting industry partners with the institutions in our network to respond to these critical trends, drive revenue, and better serve students. We’re thrilled to collaborate with higher ed leaders to reach this next horizon for course sharing. If you have questions or want to learn more, please contact us at alliances@acadeum.com.
Have a trend to contribute? We’d love to hear it! Get in touch at: courseshare@acadeum.com
