South Asia International Institute, a private university in Hyderbad, to wind up

The latest EdInvest Newsletter* quotes a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) dated February 03, 2004,

Sylvan Learning Systems (NASDAQ: SLVN)is closing its fledgling South Asia International Institute in Hyderabad, southern India.

The company, which operates a network of universities in Europe, Mexico, and South America in addition to online programs in the United States, said that India eventually would be an important market for the company, but that the regulatory climate there for a for-profit, non-Indian university had become "much less welcoming" in the past year.

"Our commitment to India remains," said John K. Hoey, senior vice president for corporate operations of the Baltimore-based company. "It's just a matter of how."

Sylvan last fall enrolled 55 students in its South Asia International Institute. The students were told that the institution was seeking accreditation. But Mr. Hoey said that in the past few months, it had become apparent that the institute's application would not be acted upon promptly by accreditors.

Having reached that conclusion, he said, Sylvan decided to shut down the program and help the students transfer to other institutions. The pullout was first reported last week on the Web site of the Observatory of Borderless Higher Education, a London-based organization that tracks worldwide developments in distance education and corporate education.

Sylvan has refunded the students' tuition for the first semester and given them scholarships for a year's tuition elsewhere.

Sylvan announced its plans to enter India just over a year ago, and had acquired 125 acres for a campus in Hyderabad, a city in southern India that is the center of the country's high-technology region. Students initially attended classes in leased space nearby. Courses at the South Asia International Institute were based largely on a curriculum from the Sylvan-owned National Technological University and courses from other institutions in its network. The company has not decided what it will do with the land it owns.

Mr. Hoey said Sylvan had expected that its institution would be granted local legitimacy by the state government of Andhra Pradesh, of which Hyderabad is the capital. But the government, which once seemed inclined to enact laws giving itself the power to regulate private higher education, has since backed away from that approach.

He said a decision by the Supreme Court of India last summer had turned the climate against private, for-profit universities (The Chronicle, August 18). The ruling said that higher-education companies should not be allowed to engage in "profiteering," and that states should have the right to review and regulate the tuition that private colleges may charge. Mr. Hoey said the ruling had soured the accreditors and states on all private, for-profit education.

The closing was not a major setback, however, for the company's Sylvan International Universities, given the overall enrollment of about 117,000 students in other institutions in the network, Mr. Hoey said. "We never had any expectations that we'd have short-term success," he said.

In the past, Sylvan's president, Douglas Becker, had described the company's India venture as "planting a seed." Sylvan plans to keep two top officials in India to continue studying approaches it might take. One option, Mr. Hoey said, is for the company to collaborate with an Indian college and manage the institution for the Indian operator.

Sylvan Learning Systems announced on December 17, 2001 that it planned to develop a university near Hyderabad, in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the company's Sylvan International Universities (SIU) subsidiary signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and began a comprehensive feasibility study and market analysis to assess the potential of a post-secondary institution specializing in career-oriented fields such as information technology, hotel management, engineering, business management and health sciences.

The memorandum of understanding allowed SIU to acquire a 250-acre site near the proposed Hardware Park at Shamshabad, near Hyderabad, for the development of the university. In late November, SIU paid 11.29 million rupees (approximately US $235,000) as a 50 percent down payment.

On February 4, 2003, SIU announced the opening of their new university in Hyderabad named South Asia International Institute and expected to start classes in August 2003. The Economic Times reported in September 2003, that Jacob Kurian, formerly the COO of Tanishq, had taken over as president of Sylvan Learning India, with K Anantha Padmanabhan, (ex-Director of IIT, Kanpur) as the vice-chancellor and that the Institute started classes on August 11 in Hyderabad.

There's more information about the South Asia International Institute, their programs, their admissions, and an FAQ on their web site. The annual tuition fee they were charging was Rs. 131,500 (Rs. 65,750 per semester).

* EdInvest, is the education investment information facility, a forum for individuals, corporations and other institutions interested in education in developing countries. A service of the World Bank Group, EdInvest provides information for making private investment in education possible on a global scale.

Comments

[Nishikant Ramesh Balkawade]

Dear sir,

I interested in wind mill sector. So which type of education course in your institution please send details on my email.

E-mail ID:- nishikant_balkavade@yahoo.com

[gaurav]

sir i have not recieved 50% in my graduation and i want to do MBA,what all colleges option do i have

[Shakir Wakil]

I interested to to MBA in Management. So which type of education course in your institution please send details on my email.