INTO University Partnerships

INTO University Partnerships

Type	Private
Industry	Education
Founded	2005
Founder	Andrew Colin
Headquarters	Brighton, San Diego
Website	INTO University Partnerships

INTO University Partnerships is a British limited liability partnership that specialises in setting up joint ventures with universities. It focuses on the provision of foundation courses for international students, including English language, especially English for Academic Purposes. So far INTO has launched 21 international study centres with 20 leading university partners in the United Kingdom, North America and China. The centres offer courses that enable students to prepare for university degrees, learn English, or study at postgraduate level.

History

INTO University Partnerships was founded in 2005 and is chaired by Andrew Colin, who had previously set up Study Group International, an education business he sold to the Daily Mail Group, and Embassy CES, a chain of language schools. Since 2006, INTO has launched 20 joint ventures with a range of universities in the United Kingdom, North America and China.

Under the joint venture model, the university remains responsible for educational quality,^[1] while INTO provides the marketing infrastructure, finance and specialist management experience. This business model was developed in a political climate that favours public-private partnerships. Bill Rammell, Minister of State in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, in response to a question from Colchester MP Bob Russell, welcomed such innovation in higher education.^[2]

In October 2008, INTO opened a £35 million six-storey building at INTO UEA, with 415 en-suite study-bedrooms and classroom space for 600 students.^[3] New buildings also opened in Exeter in 2011 and Newcastle in September 2012. INTO Newcastle University, built at a cost of £74million, was launched alongside on-campus student accommodation, the first in the university's history.

In early 2013, INTO University Partnerships announced an equity investment^[4] from Leeds Equity Partners of £66m in the group for a 25 per cent stake in the business. This investment completed the first stage of INTO’s funding plans, which are aimed at providing universities with access to significant external capital to fund innovation and capacity building in the higher education sector.

International study centres

UK partners^[5]

• University of East Anglia (2005)
• University of Exeter (2006)
• Newcastle University (2007)
• Glasgow Caledonian University (2008)
• City University London (2009)
• Queen's University Belfast (2009)
• St George's University of London (2011)^[6]
• University of Gloucestershire (2013)^[7]
• University of Stirling (2014)^[8]
• University of Stirling London campus (2014)

Additionally, it is an international foundation partner for the:

• University of Manchester (2008) ^[9]
• Manchester Metropolitan University
• INTO also operates a centre in Mile End in the east-end of London which delivers pre-University preparation programmes - with over 70 UK universities recognising the programmes.^[10] The centre opened in summer 2013.

US partners

• Oregon State University (2008)
• University of South Florida (2010)
• Colorado State University (2010)^[11]
• Marshall University (2012)^[12]
• George Mason University (2014)^[13]
• Drew University in New York (2014)^[14]

Chinese partners

• Nankai University
• Dongbei University of Finance and Economics.

Global recruitment

Through five greater regional directorates, INTO employs over 100 full-time market-based staff in 31 offices across 17 countries and invests £4 million each year in training, monitoring and performance-managing its counseling organizations. In 2011, INTO conducted more than 300 training sessions with 600 organisations, including large-scale familiarisation trips to launch new partnerships. All recruitment activity is planned centrally, but coordinated through university-based joint venture groups.

Awards

At the 2011 Education Investor Awards, INTO, took the Exporting Excellence award for its contribution to international education. It also won the Higher Education Provider of the Year.

Organisational development

In INTO's first three years, the company created 435 new jobs. They currently have around 1,350 members of staff across the group.

Future plans

In their submission to the Home Affairs Select Committee on student visas in 2011, INTO said it had "welcomed and educated almost 21,000 students from more than 138 countries and territories to the UK and provide direct employment for close to 1,350 people in the UK alone".^[15] Commencements at INTO study centres have now surpassed 41,000 with an average of 90% student satisfaction.

INTO has been in preliminary discussion with several other British universities, the majority of which have decided not to form a partnership, including Essex, Goldsmiths and Westminster. Essex elected to restructure its own international operations, and Goldsmiths to suspend its internationalisation plans.^[16] In contrast, the Senate of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, voted in favour of an INTO partnership in April 2009, which led to the setting-up of INTO Queen's University of Belfast.

In July 2008, INTO announced that it had signed its first agreement in the United States, to operate a foundation year programme for Oregon State University. OSU said that it had long wanted to expand the number of international students, and turned to INTO for its worldwide infrastructure and expertise in recruitment; some staff, on the other hand, expressed concerns over working conditions. The programme was due to start in autumn 2009.^[17] It intends to begin with 150–200 students. A local news source, OregonLive, states that the new venture will "replace the English Language Institute, a self-sustaining program that has helped international students learn English for 43 years", a move that fills its former director with concern.^[18] The Provost of OSU, Sabah Randhawa, who has led the university's transformational development, expressed satisfaction with the partnership.^[19]

As of February 2013, INTO has established partnerships with 18 universities across the UK, North America and China and plans to increase its network to 30 partnerships by 2020 according to its 2011–15 strategy.

Opposition from lecturers and conflict with UCU

Several British universities have been approached by INTO and the majority have decided not to proceed. The University and College Union (UCU) claims credit in cases where initial discussions have not progressed, whereas the institutions have not publicly cited staff opposition. UCU has consistently opposed INTO's expansion into higher education, claiming that in every case where staff were consulted, they rejected INTO. For example, in a survey of staff at Essex, 90% rejected the proposed partnership.^[20] This objection is compounded by two things: that INTO does not recognise unions, and that Andrew Colin acknowledges that the rates offered are likely to be worse.^[21]

The International Centre for English Language Studies (ICELS) at Oxford Brookes University strongly opposed INTO's approach,^[22] and the UCU claimed credit for this opposition influencing the university's decision. The university stated that it would not go ahead with the project because it required such a large real estate commitment.^[23] The University of Essex, following questions from UCU,^[24] explained the benefits of working with INTO,^[25] but in October 2008 decided not to enter a partnership.^[26]

In February 2007, the Times Higher Education published an article featuring the UCU's dispute of guarantees that INTO offered to existing Newcastle staff.^[27] Andrew Colin rejected the UCU criticism, saying in 2007 "Give me three years and I will show you it is possible to create secure, well-paid jobs in EAP, and more of them," and rejected the similarity of his business model to private finance initiatives (PFI).^[28]

Andrew Colin said of the lecturers' union in 2008, ""I've asked for a dialogue with the UCU, but they won't talk to us. The union causes a lot of anxiety and talk about standards and job losses, they don't mention the fact that we are creating jobs and that the university is responsible for academic standards."^[29]

In July 2008, INTO threatened UCU with a legal suit for defamation, in response to a union briefing entitled "Into the unknown". The union removed the document from their website.^[30]

INTO Giving

INTO supports its own charity, which is dedicated to “providing and improving the education of young people around the world living in impoverished or difficult circumstances.”^[31] Projects supported include a school in China, a children’s centre in Zambia and training for teachers in Gambia.^[32] The projects are delivered by third party charities.^[33]

Students, staff and local communities are encouraged to raise money for the projects through activities such as sponsored sports events,^[34] comedy nights,^[35] food festivals^[36] and charity auctions.^[37][38] Between 2008 and 2010 the charity donated £58,054 to the projects it supported.^[31]

Accounts question

INTO reached the parliamentary record when MP Austin Mitchell asked why it had not filed financial records with Companies House,^[39] as it is legally obliged to do. Andrew Colin said in the Times Higher Education that the delay in submitting accounts was a "simple mistake".^[40] He also revealed that the first set of submitted accounts showed a loss of £1.7m, but stated that the company would be beyond the break-even point by the third year.

Aircraft

According to the Civil Aviation Authority's database on registered civil aircraft, a subsidiary, INTO Air, has, in the past, featured a registered Swiss-built Pilatus PC-12 turbo-prop aircraft, with registration G-INTO.^[41] An article in General Aviation magazine quoted the cost of these aircraft as starting at $4m and states that Andrew Colin ordered a second aircraft for delivery in 2010.

.^[42] Colin credits the first corporate plane, which he had had for only a few months at the time of the interview, with transforming the way he and his UK team did business, removing much of the strain of travel. “In one week we attended meetings in Glasgow and Newcastle on the Monday, Oxford and London on the Tuesday, Exeter and Birmingham on the Wednesday, Glasgow again on the Thursday and Norwich on the Friday.".^[42] The registration of the plane has since been removed from the CAA database.

See also

• Business-education partnerships
• University Foundation Programme, a competitor system
• Kaplan, Inc., a competitor company
• English Language Institute, a common name for a university-based service that teaches English

Notes

External links

• INTO's consumer website
• INTO University Partnerships corporate website