User:CollegeMeltdown/Academic Partnerships

Academic Partnerships (AP) is a major for-profit online program manager (OPM) based in Dallas Texas. Established in 2007 by entrepreneur Randy Best, AP serves more than 50 colleges and universities, providing technology, marketing services, and student support services to mid-level brands. Because of its early start as a OPM, it has been considered "a pioneer" in the business. According to Academic Partnerships, the company has served 270,000 students and converted more than 4000 campus-based classes to online courses.

History
In 2007, Academic Partnerships was created by entepreneur Randy Best as Higher Ed Holdings. In 2007, Education Holdings helped Lamar University establish online programs, and quickly expanded to other universities including the University of Texas system and Arkansas State University. An article in Forbes characterized the company's efforts as "using the Web to turn struggling midlevel U.S. universities into global education brands."

In 2011, Randy Best hired former Florida Governor Jeb Bush as an adviser to Higher Ed Holdings. Bush was also an investor. Using his connections, Bush was able to broker an education for AP with Florida International University

In 2013, former members at Academic Partnerships, Paxton Riter and Whitney Kilgore, helped found another OPM, iDesign.

In March 2014, Academic Partnerships paid Hilary Clinton $225,000 to deliver a speech. In his June 2014 speech to the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, Bush called President Barak Obama’s gainful employment regulations, “a sledgehammer to the entire field of higher education.” In December of that same year, Jeb Bush resigned from his position at AP in preparation for his bid for a 2016 presidential run.

In 2014, AP was characterized as a "profit machine" that could reduce the cost of educating an undergraduate by about 85 percent. By 2015, AP had annual sales of $100 million and contracts with 40 U.S. colleges and universities.

At some point, Academic Partnerships was owned by Insight Partners, a venture capital and private equity firm.

In 2017, Academic Partnerships appointed Dan Branch, a former Texas House member and Chairman of the Texas House Committee on Higher Education to the board.

In 2020, Academic Partnerships was one of five online program managers that Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown targeted for scrutiny. The senators said that online program managers were typically not transparent and that that they were concerned that these OPMs might be violating rules meant to rein in for-profit colleges.

Business model
Academic Partnerships operates as an online program manager (OPM) and receives an undisclosed portion of the revenues. It is not directly involved in instruction and it does not confer degrees. Instead, it provides its clients with mentoring, instructional design, technology, and other services.

University services
AP works with faculty and staff to design and deliver online programs.

Marketing services
AP uses digital, traditional and field sales channels to market and enroll students.

Student support services
AP provides outreach to assist students with the application process, communicate with students, refer students to university services, and provide outreach to inactive students.