I was wondering how low do we have to reach before somebody actually does something constructive about it. University of Phoenix has been steadily declining for nearly a decade, on a huge scale. These are measurable declines, just look at the number of our students. We've reached pathetic levels. And yet, it's same old, same old. This almost seems like a deliberate attempt to destroy UOP. I just can't figure out why...
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Somebody (Pete) is doing something. He is doing his best to rightsize and make UOP more palatable to a potential buyer. AES has already shown its hand. They will invest in foreign markets but not here. Frankly, even the Russian market looks better to them than the US market does now. So, the future is bleak, even by his own admission at the last "leadership" call. He was bold enough to assert that we will be down to 70K students within a year. He does think it could stabilize at that level. I doubt it. There is no reason to believe the bleeding will stop. Too much competition, abysmal leadership, no discernible differentiation, poor reputation, mediocre academics, fractured culture, are just too much to overcome. This was once a bold experiment. The demographic and the model to serve it was innovative. Not anymore. UOP was never a diploma mill; nor was it a quality academic institution.
For those that don't understand. A member of Obama's administration who originally targeted for profit schools is a member of the new company's which took over UOP the past year. There should be no surprise after many attempts to stop UOP they couldn't so what do you do next. Attack from the inside and finish them. Crush UOP and all it stands for and sell it for body parts. Long time coming so if you are not out of the door yet you will be. Rumor has it they don't do well with severance so they keep things bad to push you out. Genius! Nah..just smart business. Like they say.."it's not personal its just business."
Not anymore VP was walked in IT. Great move as the guy was horrible. Plain horrible.
The exec dean and regulatory dean for humanities are still afloat??? Perfect example of why UOP is where it is today... neither of them know the first thing about humanities / social sciences. Get rid of them! The sooner the better.
UOP functions on the Peter Principle and Gaslighting. There's no real University to UOP as it's a business masquerading as a university. Deans upon deans upon deans... , many of whom have UOP MBAs that were probably earned through Epic Points. UOP is the laughing stock of Higher Ed and the place can't shut down fast enough.
ECG- well written and very well stated.
Cohen said in a recent leadership call he expects enrollment to bottom out at 70K, which will likely be achieved this time next year. It does seem someone is monitoring and deleting some comments like those posted yesterday about Curley's departure. Evidently they cannot handle the truth. A toxic culture does not happen from the bottom-up; it is the opposite. Many of the culprits who have provided the leadership during this free-fall remain. They cut muscle, like counselors, advisers, and chairs, not the fat at the top. This is all too common. Meaningful measures cannot be taken because like Blockbuster or Blackberry, it is far too late. UOP cannot differentiate itself anymore. Tuition is far disproportionate to the value. There is marginal value. UOP is not a diploma mill; however the structure does not support academic quality and it never did; although early on the quality of students was a lot higher so it did appear as if we were providing some education. Now the vast majority of our student population needs remediation. Ultimately, I believe the concept was flawed from the beginning and doomed to failure. Whatever quality there was began to decline when UOP went public and has steadily declined since then. UOP five and six week courses are mere surveys of a topic and fail to provide opportunities for breadth and depth. This puts our students at a disadvantage, especially if a student aspires to a terminal degree (unless of course they enroll here or at Argosy). How can the public take UOP seriously when its president has a mere bachelor's degree from Redlands? Clearly he was hired to economize, rightsize, and downsize, not to improve the quality of academics. Is there really a possibility UOP can lure legitimate academic talent here to become Provost? I suppose with enough incentives it is possible. If a qualified person takes the job he/she can claim the path forward was not navigable, although he/she did their best. And if he/she should succeed then they would deserve a hearty wow! Either way it is a win-win. My bet though is that very few people with talent, credentials, and experience will apply.
Obviously it's not low enough for Peter to fire all of his direct reports and most of the executive deans. Yesterday was a start. The lack of leadership at those levels is the problem. The toxic culture will live on and enrollment will continue free-falling. The end is very near if drastic, meaningful measures are not taken.
Too many VPs trying to maintain their jobs! Every other college has online enrollment not a hundreds of enrollment, academic and finance 'counselors'.