Can't believe HBS Online is doing the same thing as indie bloggers
The Harvard Business School Online brought in 68 Million USD last year with their online courses priced at 1700 to 2500 USD. Plus they are writing SEO driven articles like this (https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/business-skills-every-professional-needs) just like any bloggers would do but because they are Harvard so their articles got the domain authority to rank really high. And there are lots of these types of articles out there, from many universities.
Is it normally amongst universities to provide online courses outside their core full-time offerings? Who runs these programs and do they work with an outside company to do the actual work?
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 14.4 ms ] threadUS universities are generally open to making money through course offerings, certificates, and other ventures that leverage their brand and network while not jeopardizing their reputation and their accreditation. For many universities below the very top-tier, finding ways to make money is a matter of survival.
Harvard is obviously one of the most famous brands, and they're also one of the best at pursuing profit-making ventures by any means.
"Who runs these programs?" is an excellent question! I don't know about HBS Online in particular, but generally, universities farm out their certificates and even some degrees to Online Program Managers, aka OPMs.
The most famous OPM is 2U. Check out the LA Times reporting on 2U's deal with USC. Coincidentally, a few years ago 2U paid $800 million to acquire edX, a non-profit started and run by Harvard and MIT. Curiously, 2U's stock (TWOU) is down by 99.5% over the past five years. It's complicated.