Back in May the roundabout of changes at INTO University Partnerships (INTO) was in full motion. My blog suggested a go to market strategy based around University Access Centers and an emerging sales structure reflecting the differing fortunes of Russell Group partners and other universities in the UK. Particularly intriguing was the decline of the University of East Anglia joint venture (INTO UEA) and the rise of Queen’s University Belfast.
Regular readers will has seen that INTO UEA then failed to file its 2020/21 Annual Report by the due date but it is now possible to confirm the extent of the continuing decline in enrollments. The UAC strategy was duly launched, a new partner in the US gives some further sense of a possible direction and some familiar faces have returned while the top team continues to change. A summary is timely.
Changing UK Enrollment Dynamics
For some time now it has become clear that changes in international student enrollment for the UK is making for unusual turbulence and may not be good news for pathway operators. This year’s UCAS data shows that overall international acceptances at undergraduate level are down to their lowest level since 2015 (excluding the pandemic affected 2020) due to continuing declines in EU students. As importantly for pathway operators the shift to Indian postgraduates as a dominant, growing market brings very different challenges after years of reliance on China.
With the inclusion of the confirmed INTO UEA numbers the overall picture for INTO’s UK operations becomes clear. While the Russell Group aligned operations had a steeper year on year fall in the most recent, pandemic affected, year the longer-term trend was positive. Non-Russell group operations appear to be struggling and in decline.
Note: Wholly owned subsidiary INTO Manchester is primarily aligned with the University of Manchester and is included in the Russell Group enrollments. INTO World Education Centre is a “choice” option and included in the Non-Russell Group enrollments.
The new figures also show that INTO UEA, the first joint venture opened, saw its enrollments fall below those of INTO Queen’s for the first time. The recently posted Annual Report confirms that this decline came with an operating loss of £4.66m. Note 18 of the Report indicates that fees charged by INTO and UEA to the joint venture have also been “renegotiated” to “reduce the LLP’s cost base.”
The joint-venture’s problems have had an impact on UEA’s overall international student enrollment and a significant decline in international fee income. For now, the partnership continues but it will be worth keeping a close eye on it over the coming year. The direction of travel and hopes for recovery seem clear from the Annual Report with talk of “the expansion of year one pathways and Integrated Degrees” as the focus for the future.
Meanwhile, Back in the USA
INTO’s declining joint venture portfolio in the US has been explored at length and the current court case with the University of South Florida will play out over time. Court documents show that an “Emergency Motion for a Temporary Injunction to maintain the status quo” on 31 August was declined which is presumably what led to the joint venture being removed as a recruitment option. Filings indicate the next steps are that “INTO USF LP and INTO USF, Inc. shall file their Amended Complaint on or before September 20, 2022, and USF Financing Corporation and The Board of Trustees of the University of South Florida shall respond to the Amended Complaint within twenty (20) days thereafter.”
Meanwhile, the seemingly inevitable drive for direct recruitment partners may be coming with the announcement of an agreement to recruit postgraduate students for University of Massachusetts, Amherst from Fall 2023. What is difficult to understand about INTO’s recruitment approach is that their student facing INTO Study website currently only features two direct recruitment partners (Colorado State University and Arizona State University) while the corporate site features nine US “recruitment partnerships”. Shorelight’s site seems far more in keeping with the smooth approach that has been increasingly popularized by the aggregators and demonstrates how far INTO has to go if the intention is to have a significant direct recruitment network of partners in the US.
If the Face Fits
INTO’s web site constraints may also mean that updating new appointments and departures is not a priority but some of the comings and goings are interesting.
Particularly relevant to the next stage of US development may be the return of ex-North America MD/CEO David Stremba as Senior Vice President, Business Development. He was pivotal to the early growth of INTO in the US and has spent some time with both Shorelight and Navitas in recent years, so should have a good sense of the competitor landscape. The US structure is also developing with long-term player Yasmin Sefer becoming Senior VP, Partnerships (Private) alongside the Senior VP, Partnerships (Public), Steven Richman.
The INTO corporate website also doesn’t reflect the recent departure of a Group COO and US Executive VP or a strongly rumoured, significant change at senior finance level. All that aside, INTO seems to have decided the team and structure that it thinks can move it forward and there appear to be an ample number of “senior” titles for a business with a reported adjusted turnover of £119.3m in 2021. Time for action.
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay