2 Courses and Programs
Look for unique courses and programs that offer value in the world and can sustain themselves.
Key Questions
What niche, uniquely valuable, or universally popular courses does your institution offer? Do any of your programs or courses have an edge?
How can you compete with other similar programs? What is your edge?
Do you have accreditation that potential learners will see as credible?
What are the full costs to offer each of your courses and programs?
Which platform will be used to deliver the courses?
Which courses will be fully online? Which ones will be hybrid?
Examples
EGYPT
American University in Cairo is branded as one of the region’s global universities and is home to renowned scholars in several niche areas such as Egyptology, Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Finance, and Regional Economics and Policy.
UNITED STATES
The University of Idaho has a unique undergraduate program in Forestry. Building off a 100-year tradition of training leaders in forest science and management, the Forestry program (accredited by the Society of American Foresters) is one of the top-ranked programs for quality and value in the United States. Students work directly with world-class faculty in the laboratory and unique outdoor settings throughout the program. An online version of this program could be attractive to people from across the globe, especially in the context of climate change research and response.
INDIA
Pearl Academy and University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, both Global University Systems entities in India, have been using the BlackBoard Learning Management System since 2014, when they initiated blending 10% of all their courses. At present, up to 30% of courses are blended. Even in pandemic times, 70% of classes were done synchronously and the remainder asynchronously. Due to its early adoption of e-learning methods, the faculty is now competent to create MOOC courses for public use. This will have a huge strategic impact on the positioning of the institutes.