Despite millions in guaranteed revenue, experts agree establishing the University of Arizona Global Campus will not be risk-free for Arizona.
Exactly how for-profit Ashford University will become the nonprofit University of Arizona Global Campus became a little clearer this month when the University of Arizona published its asset purchase and sale agreement with Ashford.
The 340-page contract contains new details of how Arizona will work with Ashford’s parent company, Zovio, formerly Bridgepoint Education, to establish and jointly operate Global Campus. The document outlines responsibilities each party will assume, describes governance and budgeting processes, and discusses issues such as legal liability.
But the agreement also leaves some key questions unanswered — chiefly, what happens if things at Global Campus don’t go as planned.
Ashford University’s enrollment has been in decline for several years, and there is no indication from the contract that extra investment is planned to turn that trend around, said Phil Hill, partner at MindWires Consulting and publisher of the Phil on Ed Tech blog.