Dive Brief:
- Rutgers University's seven-year deal with Pearson eCollege, which is designed to increase the school's online course and degree offerings, is receiving some pushback from graduate school faculty.
- The deal would see students' tuition split between Rutgers and Pearson, and the faculty members, who passed a resolution Wednesday to reject the contract, feel Pearson comes out with too much money and course control.
- Additionally, the measure passed by the graduate faculty members calls for the faculty union to receive a seat at the table in order to broker a better deal.
Dive Insight:
The contract would create new online degree programs and add thousands of online students by 2020, but it initially splits tuition dollars 50-50 between Rutgers and Pearson. Rutgers would eventually get 65%, but the 35% going to Pearson is still a bit much for the faculty members—as is the portion of the contract allowing Pearson to remove course content it deems "inappropriate." Out of the 75 faculty in attendance at the meeting, 39 voted in favor of the resolution rejecting the deal.