In late 2025, the Australian National University (ANU) found itself in the spotlight for reasons less flattering than its academic reputation. After only two years at the helm, Professor Genevieve Bell resigned as Vice Chancellor. There were months of speculation, debate, and even criticism.
UNE’s online reach makes it an inviting target for a merger
INSIGHTS & RESOURCES
UNE’s online reach makes it an inviting target for a merger
The Australian
by Keith Houghton
3 October 2018
Key Takeaways:
- Purdue University Global (PU-G) was created through the acquisition of Kaplan University and leverages Kaplan’s online expertise to offer online educational programs targeting part-time adult students.
- PU-G’s strategy is seen as an efficient way to advance Purdue’s online educational programs, positioning the university at the forefront of online education.
- While Australia lacks similar institutional arrangements, a few universities, including the University of New England (UNE), have strategic engagement in online education, achieving significant productivity growth.
- UNE stands out in the Regional University Network (RUN) with a remarkable productivity growth of 35.2% from 2011 to 2016, compared to the mean growth of just over 12% for other RUN members.
- The retirement of UNE’s vice-chancellor prompts reflection on the impact of online education in the Australian university sector.
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Full Article:
This year Purdue University in the US created Purdue University Global. It came into existence from its acquisition in April last year of the Kaplan University operation, which had ceased operations after a period of mixed fortunes.
Through a series of what appears to be complex contracts, Purdue uses the “back office” (that is, the online expertise) of Kaplan to support a large array of online educational programs targeting mostly part-time adult students. The offerings attract thousands of American (and foreign) students.
Some see the PU-G strategy as an attempt to push forward the online educational programs of Purdue in a highly efficient manner. The move provides more easily accessible educational offerings of a mainstream university that is putting itself at the leading edge of online education.
Australia does not yet have the same type of institutional arrangements; however, there are a small number of universities that have strategic engagement in, and significant levels of, online education (other than the special case of Open Universities Australia).
With the recent announcement of the retirement of University of New England vice-chancellor Annabelle Duncan, it is worth reflecting on one aspect of the presence and effect of online education in the Australia university sector.
There are several higher education institutions achieving significant productivity growth. Of the 13 universities that achieved productivity growth of greater than 30 per cent across the period from 2011 to 2016, there was only one smaller institution (with equivalent full-time student load of less than 15,000) that achieved this level of improvement — that being UNE. It achieved productivity growth of 35.2 per cent across the period.
This is markedly higher than other institutions in the Regional University Network, where the mean level of growth is just more than 12 per cent. No other RUN member achieved the efficiency position that UNE has (see the chart in which RUN institutions are shown in green).
Australia has, on average, some of the largest universities in the English-speaking world. Some might speculate that this is an idiosyncratic outcome of the Australian education funding approach. While this is possible, even likely, the effect of global ranking algorithms may also factor into this. Those who have attempted to reverse engineer the three or four largest rankings appear to recognise that controlling for scale is a near-impossible task.
Earlier this year, the Higher Education and Research Group released its latest annual analysis of the productivity of the Australian university sector, including, for the first time, the three large private universities.