Japanese corporate executives. Swedish accountants. Australian civil engineers. All over the world, it seems, busy professionals are eager to find online coursework in their fields -- and their employers are willing to pay handsomely for the service. Now, with the help of two outside companies, Stanford is looking for a bigger piece of the action.
In late June, Stanford announced it was joining with three other universities to participate in UNext.com, a Chicago-based Internet company. It delivers a business curriculum that includes such topics as basic marketing and accounting. Under the agreement, UNext can use Stanford's name and can adapt for the web coursework created by Stanford faculty. (Professors from the School of Engineering will be the first to participate.) The new company -- which is also working with Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the London School of Economics and Political Science -- plans to sell the courses to multinational and overseas corporations, which would then disseminate them to their employees. Employees taking the courses over the web would not be taught by Stanford professors, nor would they receive credit or degrees from the University. For Stanford, the deal seems sweet. "We think it's a very attractive financial arrangement and a relatively low risk for the University," says Geoffrey Cox, vice provost and dean for institutional planning and operations, learning technology and extended education.
The second agreement teams Stanford engineering professors with officials at Integrated Project Systems -- a San Carlos, Calif.-based consulting and training firm. They work together to create short online courses for engineers and project managers. Under the agreement, Integrated Project Systems provides some resources and a client base while Stanford delivers the courses through its Center for Professional Development, the distance-education arm of the Engineering School. Companies buy the coursework from Stanford, which shares the revenue with Integrated Project Systems.
