With a surprise deal to acquire the for-profit Kaplan University, announced on Thursday, Purdue University has leapfrogged into the thick of the competitive online-education market. Purdue plans to oversee the institution as a new piece of its public-university system — a free-standing arm that will cater to working adults and other nontraditional students.
The purchase, conceived and executed in just five and a half months, puts Purdue in position to become a major force in an online landscape increasingly dominated by nonprofit institutions. Until now, said Purdue’s president, Mitch Daniels, the university "has basically been a spectator to this growth" in distance education, with just a few online graduate programs. Mr. Daniels, a former Republican governor of Indiana, described the acquisition as adding a "third dimension" to Purdue, along with its research-rich flagship in West Lafayette, Ind., and its regional campuses.
For Kaplan and its parent company, Graham Holdings, the deal offers a potentially profitable exit strategy for an operation that has seen its bottom line battered for several years by falling enrollments. (Kaplan now has 32,000 students.)
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://www.chronicle.com/article/Purdue-s-Purchase-of-Kaplan/239931