Indiana's has continually broken with tradition. The land-grant university, which began as an 'industrial college' with an emphasis on science, technology and agriculture, was the first public institution in the country to open its own airport. During the 1960s the university teamed up with Indiana U to merge the two schools' extension programs, forming the campus. Last year its innovative competency-based received accreditation.Is it any wonder then that the university is trying its next grand experiment — to take over a for-profit college as an effort to extend its reach among non-traditional students, jumpstart its online profile and transform its role in higher education?
Purdue on Thursday announced an agreement to accept the transfer of 32,000 students, 3,000 employees and additional assets of. Kaplan is a for-profit operation owned by Kaplan Higher Education LLC and Iowa College Acquisition LLC, both subsidiaries of, formerly known as the Washington Post Company.' To be a 21st-century land-grant school, to meet the obligation, really, the great opportunity, the noble opportunity that we have always embraced here at Purdue, we must be active in online education in a way we are not now,' said Purdue President Mitch Daniels in a prepared statement. Currently, Purdue encompasses a main campus in West Lafayette and two regional campuses, Purdue Fort Wayne and Purdue Northwest.The deal has drawn support from one unique quarter: Arne Duncan, who, as secretary for the U.S.
Department of Education, drew the wrath of for-profit schools for his continual efforts to reign them in. 'I'm excited by this opportunity for a world-class university to expand its reach and help educate adult learners by acquiring a strong for-profit college,' said Duncan in a prepared statement.
Purdue Global was created in April 2018, as a result of Purdue University’s acquisition of the former Kaplan University. Purdue converted Purdue Global into its network of campuses, which also include a flagship, tier-1 research university in West Lafayette, Indiana and two regional campuses in the state known as Purdue Northwest.
Purdue Kaplan Online
'This is a first, and if successful, could help create a new model for what it means to be a land-grant institution.' Purdue Playing Catch-upAccording to university leaders, the latest deal began five months ago as a stealth operation under the code moniker the 'Morrill project,' named after the U.S. Federal statutes promoted by President Lincoln to create land-grant agricultural colleges throughout the country.But the groundwork was laid earlier in 2015, when adopted a goal of having 60 percent of working-age adults obtain a postsecondary degree or credential by 2020. The ' called upon public institutions to 'increase completion rates dramatically.' It also promoted the idea of getting '200,000 of the 737,000 Hoosiers with some college but no degree to come back and finish their degree.' Alongside that goal, the state launched and pushed its institutions to ramp up their online and night-and-weekend course offerings.Purdue had some definite catching up to do, lagging behind other universities among the 'Big Ten,' coming in 10th for the number of online programs it offered., Purdue's leaders had concluded, 'We don't know the full dimension, but online will be a larger phenomenon in the future, and we are not equipped for that future.'
Kaplan And Purdue
After multiple feasibility studies, the university realized it wasn't equipped to 'build' online capacity itself; therefore, to be a '21st-century land grant,' Purdue decided to 'acquire the capabilities for online excellence.'