US: University outsources programme to find overseas students

Like a lot of universities, Northeastern has Barnes & Noble running its bookstore, and Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Starbucks and Taco Bell selling food in the student centre, reports Tamar Lewin in the International Herald Tribune. But Northeastern has taken outsourcing a giant step further. It is using Kaplan Inc to find students for, and help run, an academic programme for international students to spend a year on campus, improving their English and adapting to American higher education before starting on a course. Northeastern is the first US university to take up a model that is common in Britain and gaining interest in the US.


Some critics worry that if such partnerships catch on widely, the quest for lucrative international students could undermine academic standards, if the profit motive leads programmes to admit unqualified students, or use low-paid, poorly trained instructors.

"In a way, these programmes bringing international students in for an introductory year are like what we would do with kids from the inner city, but nobody's doing that for profit," said Philip Altbach, an international education expert at Boston College. "I do wonder what happens to academic values in all of these market-driven efforts?"
Full report on the International Herald Tribune site