Sample Project:
Research on International Markets for Online Programs

A large research university had developed an impressive array of online degree programs that attracted a large — but almost exclusively domestic — student body.  Senior administration, eager to broaden the programs’ markets, asked Tom Clay & Associates, Inc. to investigate the state of the international marketplace, the barriers that the university would likely encounter there and, ultimately, the potential for marketing and delivering its programs internationally.  Using interviews with industry experts supplemented by secondary research, we explored other institutions’ experiences in marketing and delivering online education programs overseas, the challenges they had encountered, and how they had addressed them; analyzed legislative/regulatory, political, financial, logistical and cultural/ linguistic barriers; and profiled the state of online education in key markets.  The results not only informed the university’s decision whether to market its online programs internationally, but also shaped its strategy.

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