Month: January 2023

PATHWAYS GREAT CONSOLIDATION?

Last week’s news that Oxford International Education Group (OIEG) is in the hunt for buying Cambridge Education Group (CEG) could be the first step in consolidation for the pathway sector.  It comes after a few torrid years where aspirations for pathway growth in the US foundered and the pandemic wreaked havoc with global student mobility.  Murmurs that QA Higher Education may also be on the block and long-standing speculation that Andrew Colin and/or Leeds Equity might seek options on their investment in INTO make for a potential realignment of interests.

On the face of it a trade sale for CEG has the advantage of reducing recruiter competition in a market where new entrants have been one factor in the growing cost of student acquisition.  It would also make for a group that had some genuine clout with fifteen UK pathway partners1 including a Russell Group name in the University of Southampton.  Both have minor interests in the US and CEG bring European partners and a burgeoning digital business with ten partners listed.

In the UK2 this would make it larger than Navitas (11), Kaplan (11) and INTO (6) and the same size as Study Group (who lost Coventry London in 2022 and where rumours suggest another possible defection in the north of England).  It’s a point where you could see one of those players having a look at QA Higher Education who have seven university partners including four where they offer a pathway but six where they deliver an undergraduate degree programme in partnership with a university.  The restructuring could even extend into consolidation of pathway operators with the aggregator and OPM markets.   

From Strength or Weakness?  

A recent comment on mergers and acquisitions suggested that “you can’t keep a good capitalist down and eventually greed will overcome fear.”  Many investors have cash in hand after a year with little action and there are suggestions CEG is available for between £150m and £200m.  The financial returns of the various elements of CEG and OIEG are not easy to divine from published information but one can either read or deduce a number of things:

Cambridge Education Group

The financials below come from the accounts of Camelot Topco, ultimate parent company of CEG3, for the year ended 31 August 2021.

ONCAMPUS revenue declined in 2021 to £39.6m due to the pandemic but was £54.4m in 2020.  CEG Digital revenue increased to £12.1m in 2021 from £6.2m in 2020 (one would presume partly due to pandemic related online measures).  Underlying EBITDA was £7.8m in 2020 but fell back to £3.2m in 2020 due to the pandemic.  Across the two business there were around 4,000 students enrolled.

Oxford International Education Group

The financials below come from the accounts of Sparrowhawk 2 Limited, the holding company of OIEG4, for the year ended 31 August 2022.  The comparative year on year numbers span the acquisition of the business in early 2021.

Overall turnover increased to £58.8m from £33.4m the previous year.  This includes pathways, a separate English language business, operations in north America, IELTS testing and two businesses in India.  It is possible to deduce that at least £14.5m of the £58.8m is not pathway related but the accounts state that pathway revenue had increased £11m year on year.  The numbers indicate that the business made a small operating loss on the year (£0.9m) but it is stated that this masks an “underlying profit of £2,907k”.  The business is forecast to “generate positive EBITDA” during the financial year to August 2023.  

Without having CEG’s accounts for 2022 it is not possible to know what a comparative performance to August 2022 was but one would anticipate a rebound in pathway business aided by the addition of new partners.  The business is also able to trumpet the addition of Loughborough University, who have been talking with potential pathway operators since at least 2007, as a partner in December 2022.  All in all, it looks as if OIEG would be taking on a larger business with some substantial and complementary assets.   

Caveat Emptor        

CEG is able to tell a strong story on digital developments and a growing portfolio of well ranked partners which might make it a very attractive proposition.  OIEG is an aspirational business which can point to partners that have done very well out of the growth in UK student recruitment with the University of Greenwich being one of the most significant beneficiaries of the growth in the Indian market.  So, what could possibly go wrong…

Anyone looking at the UK government’s turbulent approach to international student recruitment would point to the continuing possibility of changes to visa policy as a Conservative Government prepares the ground for an election in no more than 24 months.  Significant limitations on student family members (other than with PhD students) and constraints on post study work are two of the main ghosts at the feast.  More severe limitations on lower-ranked universities and “poor quality courses” would be particularly damaging to both CEG and OIEG portfolios.

Alongside that is the sense that CEG might see a window of opportunity that means a race to the exit is the most sensible option in a market where several factors could compromise future performance.  Examples include the evident resurgence of Australia as a competitor after several years of weakness, as well as the reality that Canada remains strong and the US seems to be concentrating on visa turnaround times in major growth markets.  All that is before the revitalisation of China as an international student recruiter with eyes on Africa and India, which seems an inevitable consequence of its borders reopening after COVID.

Those who have been involved in mergers and acquisitions will also recognise the substantial risks involved in trying to merge business cultures, operational activities and brands.  For pathway operators, even as they become increasingly involved in direct recruitment, there is the added challenge of a sales team trying to cope with a plethora of university brands in their bag and not doing justice to any of them.  Smart universities will also have the potential for amendments to contracts if ownership changes and could choose to negotiate hard on revised targets and penalties for failure.

What seems likely is that consolidation will come sooner rather than later as some operators and investors head for the exit doors while the UK environment looks acceptable. The possibility of aggregators, online delivery and post study employment options coming into the mix are likely to make for an interesting year. Interesting times.

NOTES

  1. This count includes seven OIEG partners and the eight listed in CEG’s ONCAMPUS brand.
  2. This is likely to be contested territory but I have attempted to review those relationships which are on campus, joint ventures, and have a pathway element. Authoritative corrections are welcome.
  3. The ultimate controlling partner is Bridgepoint Euro IV Fund managed by Bridgepoint Advisers Ltd.  The interest was purchased in April 2013 for a reported £185m.  In July 2019 reports indicated that Bridgepoint had sold the CATS Colleges division of CEG to Bright Scholar for a transaction value of £150m.
  4. The ultimate controlling party is THI Holdings GmbH which acquired a majority stake in March 2021 in a deal which saw OIEG’s schools division sold to Nord Anglia Education.    

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay 

Reelin’ In the Years

Following yesterday’s blog it was helpful to see the HESA summary data for 2021/22 enrollments appearing.  While this does not give a detailed analysis of recruitment by source country for each institution it provides the data to demonstrate that a number of non-Russell Group universities have been outperforming their, supposedly, illustrious competitors in international student recruitment for the past two years of published figures.  The outperformance is on both a percentage growth and an absolute volume growth.

It seems a reasonable bet that this growth will have been driven by students from India and other countries where the importance of post-study work and lower costs of studying are major attractions.  Lean and well managed universities that are used to scrapping for every student and every penny but do not carry expensive infrastructure costs, top ranked (and paid) professors, or any illusions about rankings being a measure of attractiveness are probably doing very well.        

What’s Another Year1

HESA data shows that the year 2021/22 saw the universities of Greenwich, Teeside and Hertfordshire top this list of 19 institutions for percentage growth in international enrollments year on year.  The universities of Liverpool and Newcastle saw a decline in their enrollments.  Given the success of Northumbria University (situated less than a mile from Newcastle University) and Teesside University it seems misguided to suggest, as the Times Higher Education has, that geography is a significant factor in this recruitment performance.

Note:  Source HESA (non-Russell Group shown in red)

Golden Years2

Looking over a longer time span it can be seen that the difference in performance is even more stark.  Over a two year period the universities of Ulster, Teesside, Greenwich and Hertfordshire have more than doubled their enrollment of international students.  The Russell Group’s University of Southampton performance over this two year period less exciting than its year on year 2020/21 to 2021/22 growth but when HESA data at institution level becomes available it will be interesting to see whether their country recruitment strategy changed. 

Note:  Source HESA (non-Russell Group shown in red)

Percentages can, of course, be misleading and what matters most to tuition fee income is the absolute number of students paying fees – bums on seats in common parlance.  Several Russell Group universities started with significant international enrollments so might be expected to have increased their number of students more rapidly even if the percentage is lower.  However, even by this measure several non-Russell Group universities are outperforming the Russell Group institutions over the past two years.

Note:  Source HESA (non-Russell Group shown in red)

Tomorrow Never Knows3

It is commonly accepted that the often-quoted experiment, where a frog is placed in a pan of water that is slowly heated and is so insensitive to small changes in the external environment that it fails to escape before being boiled, is apocryphal.  The response of some universities to the changing environment suggests that the experiment might be taking place in real time with international student recruitment replacing the water.  Both the University of Liverpool and Newcastle University have done poorly over the past two years but both seem to be ignoring the underlying problem.

In its 2020/21 Financial Statements, the University of Liverpool accounts for its decline in international student fee tuition income by saying that, “overseas student recruitment continues to be affected by the pandemic, and although the impact is reduced in 2021/22, we have not yet seen a return in overseas demand to pre-pandemic levels.”  In and of itself the statement is true for Liverpool but clearly not so for many other universities.  Later in the Statements it is noted that, “there is a particular exposure to international relations with China due to our Joint Venture, XJTLU” which raises obvious questions about a recruitment strategy that has not embraced the growth in students from other markets.

Newcastle University’s Integrated Annual Report makes the point that “..we are heavily dependent on international students to keep the business running” but seems to be living in an alternative reality when it claims “..we have had a successful year with regard to international student recruitment.”  The University trumpets its league tables success for the year but fails to recognize that this is not what is driving the needs and expectations of students in the most rapidly growing markets.  The tired excuse that “ongoing uncertainty caused by the pandemic saw a lower than expected international undergraduate intake” suggests the university is the victim of an uncontrollable situation at a point when Northumbria University, just a stone’s throw away, has added nearly 3,000 international students in just two years.

On the same note, the University of Southampton’s Financial Statements suggest that “strong league table performance is a good indicator of future student recruitment, especially internationally,”. This is unsurprising for an institution that has formed its strategy around moving forward in the league tables but the facts showing desultory performance from well ranked institutions in the Russell Group club don’t exactly support the assertion. Recent research suggests that 72% of GenZ students think the rankings less important than finding a university that gives them the right skills for their future.

It is always good advice to separate cause from correlation and to not be the apocryphal frog. A new twist on an old phrase might be that it is time these universities smelt the coffee and woke up.  There is a new international recruitment dynamic and they need to pay attention. 

Notes:

The headline is from the Steely Dan classic, Reelin’ In The Years, released in 1972, although my argument is that some Russell Group universities are reeling in terms of response to market changes than fishing effectively. For those interested in such things, the Wikipedia article on the band appears to avoid exploring the origin of the band’s name.

  1. What’s Another Year is the Irish Eurovision song contest winner from 1980 when it was sung by Johnny Logan. Johnny Logan is the only performer to have won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1980 and 1987. He also composed the winning song, Why Me?, in 1992.
  2. Golden Years is from David Bowie’s Station to Station album released in 1975.
  3. Tomorrow Never Knows is from The Beatles’ Revolver album released in 1966. The song title apparently inspired the title of the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (which itself is supposed to be typo from the original idea “tomorrow never lies”. 

Sign o’ the Times

For a news outlet that claims to have a mission to be “..the definitive source of data, insight and expertise on higher education worldwide” the Times Higher Education sometimes seems woefully short on understanding of the realities of international student recruitment.  There is also an unhealthy focus on Russell Group universities which suggests more about the THE’s obsession with rankings, brands and research than any enlightened engagement with the broader sector.  A recent example is its article “Overseas student recruitment windfall for leading UK universities” (January 18, 2022).

For those outside the THE paywall, the piece concentrates on some Russell Group universities seeing international student fee income rising significantly between 2020-21 and 2021-22.  There is a suggestion that those in London and the south of England have done particularly well but that enrolments are “either flat or slightly down at some northern institutions, including…Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield.”  As well as perpetuating the myth that the Russell Group are either all or the only leading universities in the UK this misses a much more interesting story about the way that changing international markets are altering the financial and recruitment dynamics of the sector.

What If becomes the Hot Thing2

As far back as January 2020 my blog predicted that “..the incoming surge of Indian students might bring a new dynamic to the market” and that “the return of post-study work visas has disrupted enrolment patterns and some lower-ranked universities may have the most cause to be grateful.”  In March 2021 I presented data showing that, “..the distribution of Indian students by type of institution has proved to be significantly different to that of Chinese students” and gave an example as to why geographical location was not the driving factor.  Then in January 2022, I reinforced the findings and made the point that “price points and graduate outcomes could become far more powerful signals than whether the THE, QS and AWUR algorithms choose to favour the rich, old and elitist.”

The impact on increases in student fee income is very clear.  Year on year, percentage rises in international fees (excluding EU students) actually show that the Russell Group is underperforming many other universities.  It is equally clear that location is not the main driver of performance.

The table below shows the 2018/19 to 2020/21 change in international enrollments from China and India across 8 Russell Group universities and 8 non-Russell Group universities (including low tariff institutions).  This is shown alongside the year-on-year change in international fee income (excluding EU) from 2020-21 to 2021-22.  Several non-Russell Group institutions have seen greater comparative financial growth by increasing student enrollments from India while those in the Russell Group remain reliant on China.

Table – % Change in Year on Year International Fee income 2020/21 and Change in Volume of Chinese and Indian Enrollments from 2018/19 to 2020/21   

 % change in international (exc EU) fee income 2020-21 to 2021-22Change in number (and percentage) of Chinese students 2018/19-2020/21Change in number (and percentage) of Indian students 2018/19-2020/21
Southampton92.1745 (27.5%)50 (27.8%)
Teesside8545 (13.4%)1470 (358.5%)
Hertfordshire76.9-355 (-53.8%)3930 (397%)
Greenwich60.8-285 (-44.5%)1760 (239.5%)
Ulster55.8-85 (-47.2%)3270 (2725%)
Queen Mary47.4600 (40.8%)150 (29.4%)
Kingston44.3110 (24.2%)1635 (302.8%)
Exeter33695 (50.7%)135 (28.7%)
Northumbria29.250 (10.1%)2215 (357.3%)
Leicester26.7-590 (-36.1%)1025 (683.3%)
Central Lancashire22-315 (-44.4%)2365 (375.4%)
Warwick21730 (23.4%)80 (11.2%)
Imperial18.51115 (40.3%)35 (14.3%)
Manchester16.53000 (53.5%)85 (16.2%)
UCL164040 (64.7%)55 (13.6%)
Sheffield0.61550 (32%)545 (187.9%)
Liverpool-14.2-1300 (-23.4%)240 (200%)

Notes:

  1. Non-Russell Group institutions are in bold
  2. Financial information is taken from 2021-22 Financial Statements
  3. Student enrollment data is taken from HESA

Newcastle University is not shown because it does not appear to separate EU and other international student fee income in its financial statements.  However, the enrollment numbers comparison between it and the University of Northumbria (which is less than a mile away) demonstrates that blanket assertions about trouble up north are misguided.  Northumbria’s international enrollments have outpaced Newcastle’s significantly over the past three years with growth from India providing the bulk of the additional numbers.  It is notable that, according to HESA, Newcastle University had fewer Indian students in 2020/21 than in 2018/19.

Source: HESA (this data includes EU students.  In 2020/21 Newcastle had 1,360 and Northumbria 1,450 from the EU)

The substantial gaps in performance on recruitment of students from India does raise a number of tantalising questions about the international student strategy and/or capability of Russell Group universities.  Questions might include:

  • do they ignore academically qualified students from India;
  • do academically qualified students from India reject Russell Group institutions because of issues such as cost of tuition and accommodation;
  • are the number of academically qualified students from India so limited that Russell Group institutions struggle to grow numbers;
  • do Russell Group universities have some form of inherent bias against students from India.

Someone with a sharp eye to the sensibilities of the Home Secretary and the current political mood music might also wonder if the propensity of lower ranked, less costly and lower tariff universities to attract students from India will be seen as evidence that they are focused more on fee income than the “brightest and the best.”

Around the World in a Day3

The time lag in HESA figures means we will have to wait for some insights into whether Russell Group universities significantly changed their approach towards India in time for enrollments in 2021/22.  Without such a switch some would seem to be relying on a resurgence of students from China to maintain numbers and financial performance.  It seems likely, however, that their fee structure and overall costs might make it difficult to switch attention to price-conscious source markets.

While watching this space to see how things develop, one would hope that the THE starts to reflect that there is a world outside WC1, London, the south of England and the league tables.  For many students, issues like cost, employability, post study work and routes to immigration are at least as important in decision making as the SDGs, rankings and research capability.  With their fingers and a computer they can walk around the world in a day to assess their options and are capable of great flexibility in changing country, institution and course of study if it suits their needs.

Notes

Headline and sub-headings courtesy of the much-missed Prince.

  1. Sign o’ the Times was the title track of a studio double album released in 1987.  One of my guilty pleasures is the Starfish and Coffee track which Prince co-wrote with his then-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin.  Cynthia Rose is a real person and apparently what she really told her teacher she had in her lunch box was “starfish and pee pee”.
  2. What If is a cover version of a song written by Nichole Nordeman that appeared on her album Brave in 2005.  Prince recorded his version with 3rdEyeGirl in 2013.   Hot Thing appears on the Sign o’ the Times album and was recorded in 1986.
  3. Around the World In a Day was the title track from the seventh studio album from Prince which featured the memorable Raspberry Beret that provided the name for UK band the Lightning   Seeds through a misheard lyric.   Ian Broudie, who formed the band, thought the line “thunder drowns out what the lightning sees” was “thunder drowns out the lightning seeds.”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD MIGHT AS WELL BE MUTT

It’s a terrible joke.  Mutton is short for mutt ‘n’ jeff which is cockney rhyming slang for deaf.  Sitting here in the cold California morning the day after hearing that Jeff Beck has died it seems appropriate. It’s not quite “the day the music died” but his playing has been an almost daily source of pleasure in my life for fifty years.

In the early years of a mid-teenage search for identity there were a number of things that were defining.  Playing football, unrequited love and music were an entire universe and they defined who were your friends.  Belonging was important but always tempered by the drive for individuality.

Geoffrey Arnold Beck arrived in the form of Beck-Ola one day when I was 14.  I had read about him as one of the founding guitar gods of the 1960s alongside Clapton and Page.  But the supergroups of Cream and Led Zeppelin had made them accessible and popular in a way that the moody, intransigent and wilful Beck was never going to be.

The real stimulus for learning more was when he joined David Bowie on stage at the final Ziggy concert at the Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973.  Beck was the guitar hero of Bowie’s guitarist Mick Ronson but the review of the concert carried a description of Ronson trying to shimmy his lurex clad self against Jeff who was having none of it.  The phrase I recall, possibly inaccurately, was that Jeff was as “camp as a butcher’s dog”.

Ronson was a very good guitarist but the notion that he had a guitar hero was news, so I took a chance and Truth was purchased.  Anyone who has ever put a needle onto vinyl to listen to a new record will know the excitement of the hiss and crackles before the music.  To have “Shapes of Things” assault your ears as a first up track was proof that this was something different.

It’s a curious album in many ways.  Second track “Let Me Love You” remains a favourite and has one of the most achingly good blues solos alongside Rod Stewart singing in his pre-celebrity pomp but on the same  record there’s a version of “Ol’ Man River” and “Greensleeves”.  Jeff was nothing if not eclectic and on the sleeve notes he makes the point that the last note of the album’s take on “You Shook Me” was his guitar being sick “and so would you be if I’d just ripped your guts out for 2minutes 33seconds”.

His playing was by turns visceral, playful, distorted, pure but always interesting and there are times when I have laughed out loud at a solo because for all the virtuosity there is humour and audacity.  They are like a well told story where the punch line can be comedic, dark or just a statement but is always a surprise.  They remind me of my favourite footballer of all time, Denis Law, who would score a goal then, with defenders scattered around him in despair, would stand still with one arm aloft, index finger in the air, as if saying “that is who I am”.

In terms of teenage identity Jeff was also perfect.  As far as I know I was the first person in my year at school to discover him, he was as moody and petulant as any adolescent, and he chose to define himself rather than be beholden to anyone.  The story of the Rolling Stones trying to hire him ends with him stealing away from Rotterdam in the middle of the night just leaving a note under someone’s door.

A man that can walk away from the biggest band in the world is one thing but the ability to redefine himself musically is another.  The rock/blues of his Yarbirds years then Truth and Beck-Ola gave way to the soul and funk of Rough and Ready and the eponymous Jeff Beck Group albums. Then there was the ill-fated Beck, Bogert and Appice supergroup but it always seemed that Jeff needed to be free to play what he wanted with whoever he wanted whenever he wanted. 

The moment I realised he was for life was when he persuaded me that fusion jazz/funk with no singer could be a pleasure on Blow by Blow and Wired. He challenged my narrow musical horizons and dared me to come on his journey. It’s been a lifetime pleasure to go along for the ride.

I could write a book on finding and discovering the delights of each album in turn.  There is an intricacy to the playing that sucks me in but also an ability to cut through with a bold riff or unexpected sound that delights and thrills.  He is never boring.

I eventually got to see him play live in 2007 at Ronnie Scott’s for one of the performances enshrined on “Performing this week…Live at Ronnie Scott’s” and I was there the night that Imogen Heap guested.  My proudest fan moment was in the gents bathroom where I was able to break the news to another acolyte that Jeff had played a on a new version of 54-46 Was My Number with Toots and the Maytals.  It’s a breathtakingly good solo reflecting his ability to play with empathy, touch and taste whatever the song.

Over the years I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall (terrible acoustics), where Dave Gilmour came on to trade solos, the O2 where he did a solo show then sat in for a song or two with Van Morrison, and here in San Diego where he played much of the Loud Hailer album.  I also saw  him guest with ZZ Top on his birthday and would swear that I can hear myself screaming with glee on the record as Billy Gibbons introduces him.  My adoration knows very few bounds.

What’s not to love?  Well, I’m still not sure, for many reasons, about his teaming up with Johnny Depp and Hi Ho Silver Lining remains a grim reminder that he couldn’t sing.  But he was a patron of Folly Wildlife Rescue Trust and even had a hobby reconstructing hot rods from scratch.

As for the terrible joke at the start, I am sitting here listening to my With Jeff mix where he appears playing guitar alongside Tom Jones, Lulu, Seal, Toots, LeAnn Rimes, ZZ Top, Tina Turner, Buddy Guy and many others.  Best not to be mutt when you can listen to Jeff.  Thanks for the music, the memories and everything.

A Civil Action

In the film A Civil Action, Jan Schlichtmann says, “The whole idea of lawsuits is to settle…”.1  There is no settlement yet but the court case between2 the University of South Florida (USF) and INTO University Partnerships (INTO) has been closed and further dispute resolution is planned.  USF has dropped the case with the claim it has achieved the outcome it was seeking from its initial action.   

Its Notice of Voluntary Dismissal3 on 3 January 2023 says that at the receivership hearing on 16 December 2022, the “evidence submitted by the parties proved Defendants, INTO USF LP and INTO USF, Inc., are taking the actions that the Financing Corporation’s declaratory judgment lawsuit sought (i.e., acknowledging the termination of the Stockholder agreement, gathering and protecting the Joint Venture assets, budgeting to fund the teach-out, and winding-up the joint venture).”  In the transcript of the hearing the judge, The Honorable Darren D. Farfante, made broadly the same points while declining USF’s motion to appoint a receiver4.

It seems likely that further discussions between the parties will be conducted in private but after two previous failures there remains the possibility that these will be unproductive.  Most importantly for some observers is that students, including a group arriving in Spring 2023, are being taught out.  The transcript also tells us that the joint venture board has hired Berger Singerman, “to provide the joint venture with advice regarding the operation of the business during a wind-down, to provide advice regarding corporate governance matters and fiduciary duties.”

Presuming that wind-down results in the eventual closure of the joint venture it will leave INTO with six pathway joint ventures in the US from the eleven that have been started since 2008.5   

Joint Venture PartnerOpened/AnnouncedJoint Venture Closed6
Oregon State University2008 
University of South Florida20092022
Colorado State University20122021
Marshall University20122020
Drew University2015 
George Mason University2014 
St Louis University20152021 (became 100% INTO owned
University of Alabama – Birmingham2015 
Washington State University20172022
Suffolk University2017 
Illinois State University2018 

Last Orders7

While the case regarding the teach out and wind down of the joint venture has closed the flurry of claims and counter-claims suggests there is still plenty to be resolved.  In this respect there are some helpful insights based on how the case might have developed according to a Joint Case Management Report filed on 6 December 20228.  The document summarizes the dispute and then goes on to outline key areas of activity ahead of being ready for a trial in February 2024 if the case had gone ahead.

The process includes witnesses to be deposed (up to 30 fact witnesses and four expert witnesses) and “an alternative dispute resolution” by the end of second quarter 2023.  Other key dates in 2023 include selecting a mediator by 1 April, deadline to identify experts by 7 July, and expert discovery closure by 6 October.  The expert testimony focused on the financial status of the joint venture, including its solvency, on 21 April 2022, and “alleged damages to the INTO parties.”

A recent article in Business Law Today made the point that the “median duration of a joint venture is ten years” and suggested that “all joint ventures end—so plan for it.”  The trajectory of traditional pathways in the US is uncertain and this may not be the last closure, so universities considering joint ventures as a way forward may want to pay close attention.  Another data point could be the reported settlement resolution with a total value of “around $6.4m” passed by Washington State University Board of Regents in July 2022 after the university’s relationship with INTO changed. 

NOTES

This blog recognizes the complexity of the case and is not intended to reflect any view on the merits of either plaintiffs or defendants.  References for filings are given in order that readers can seek further insight if they wish.  Any amendments on matters of fact are welcome from authoritative sources.   

  1. The film is based on a 1995 book which tells the story of a real court case about environmental   pollution in Massachusetts in the 1980s.
  2. The case in the Circuit Court of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Hillsborough County, Florida Circuit Civil Division is formally between USF Financing Corporation (plaintiffs) and INTO USF LP and INTO USF, INC.  The Consolidated Lead Case is 22-CA-006001, Div. L.  Filing numbers below relate to this case.
  3. Filing # 163938884 E-Filed 01/03/2023
  4. Filing # 163938229 E-Filed 01/03/2023
  5. Hofstra University is omitted – there is no listing in the INTO University Partnership report and accounts indicating it is a joint venture.  All other entries in the grid are taken from publicly available information or observation of websites at the time of launch/closure.
  6. Closures are rarely the subject of public announcements.  Any authoritative amendments to these dates are welcome.  In several cases the relationship has changed to become a direct recruitment rather than joint venture pathway arrangement.
  7. Last Orders is a 1996 Booker Prize-winning novel by British writer Graham Swift.  Its title relates to the Last Will and Testament of Jack Dodds and the instructions therein, but also to “last   orders” the common call in the UK for final orders of drink before a public house closes.
  8. Filing # 162471158 E-Filed 12/06/2022

Image by Chris Sansbury from Pixabay