Continuing education & adult program units are ignored until they creep into the realm of traditional programs - or until an institution needs their cash flow. And in this case, it was both.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents voted to approve the ability of the UW Extension arm to officially grant degrees.
The UW Extension has been building interest and demand in its competency based education courses, but couldn't award any degrees for its students. With the Board of Regents vote, that all changes. The UW Extension plans to roll out a four-year degree in business and management by the end of 2016.
Many faculty and administrators across the state system have expressed concern about the decision. The fear is that the new degree programs the Extension may offer could create an internal competition for students and resources.
Why would the state system allow the Extension to award degrees for programs already offered at other campuses? For these two simple reasons: the plateauing of enrollment, and the inability of branch campuses to adapt and evolve. It's a story magnified by the scale of the state system, but one told by many small private institutions in recent history.
For the past eight years, our company has seen colleges and universities turning to the once overlooked, understaffed and too often ignored continuing education and adult program units to balance the books. About 10 years ago, the University of Phoenix showed the higher education world that profit could be made and public and private institutions took notice.
They peeled back the thick binders of budgets and noticed, for possibly the first time, their continuing ed units were actually making a little profit.
Over the past five years, things have gotten worse for many institutions. Consider the strain of cuts in public funding and state assistance and a reduced supply of students, and institutions turned to the continuing ed units and asked for more - more students and more revenue; but mostly, more profit. In Wisconsin specifically, the state cut over $250 million from the system's budget since 2014, and one campus, Eau Claire, had to cut over 150 positions.
Now the institution's step child has become the focus. The UW Extension has been given the ability to adapt, add and evolve programs because there is a seemingly larger supply of students. Their ability to adapt provided the senior leaders something the branch campuses have not - a vision for a way out of financial burden.
In 1974, Bethlehem Steel netted over $340 million in profits - a once huge return, and a number that would still look great for many companies today. Sadly, three years later, executives had to layoff over 7,000 employees, including 2,500 people with white collar positions. That year, the company had a net loss of over $448 million - the first recorded loss in 43 years.
There are many reasons for their downfall - all of which have been recorded and studied. Chief among them was a problem well beyond their control - a dwindling demand for steel. The company tried and tried for many years to recover, their efforts ultimately failing.
The steel giant simply couldn't adapt to a new marketplace for its product - at least not as well as much smaller competitors. There was a time when Bethlehem Steel produced steel for the containers for canned vegetables. But the business line was too small and overlooked. Small companies moved in and produced better, more affordable products that the food makers could use. When Bethlehem Steel found themselves struggling, they tried mightily to get those lines of business back running, but it was too late. The marketplace had moved on.
In Wisconsin, those branch campuses are facing the same situation. The marketplace has adapted, and the Board's move last week is their attempt to gain the market share back that the other campuses lost.
Today, we are facing a dwindling demand in higher education enrollment. Institutions must adapt to survive. And that is the move the UW system made - to allow its extension arm to adapt. Will the move create competition with other campuses throughout the system? Eventually, it may - but could the other campuses have made the move to adapt to the environment? Yes, and they didn't move fast enough.
Wonder what's become of the former Bethlehem Steel plant? It's has been the central figure in one of the coolest city revitalization efforts ever. Check out this awesome campus of visual and performing art, and the home of the nation's largest free music festival.