APOL Company Profile

University of Phoenix has successfully replicated its teaching/learning model while maintaining educational quality at 55 local campuses and 102 learning centers in 33 states, Puerto Rico, and Vancouver, British Columbia. University of Phoenix also offers its educational programs worldwide through its computerized educational delivery system. University of Phoenix has customized computer programs for student tracking, marketing, faculty recruitment and training, and academic quality management. These computer programs are intended to provide uniformity among University of Phoenix’s campuses and learning centers which enhances University of Phoenix’s ability to expand into new markets while still maintaining academic quality. Currently, approximately 46% of University of Phoenix’s students receive some level of tuition assistance from their employers. University of Phoenix is our largest subsidiary, with its tuition revenues currently representing approximately 95% of consolidated tuition revenues.

Institute for Professional Development provides program development and management consulting services to regionally accredited private colleges and universities (client institutions) who are interested in expanding or developing their programs for working adults. These services typically include degree program design, curriculum development, market research, student recruitment, accounting, and administrative services. Institute for Professional Development provides these services at 23 campuses and 32 learning centers in 23 states in exchange for a contractual share of the tuition revenues generated from these programs. Institute for Professional Development’s contracts with its client institutions generally range in length from five to ten years with provisions for renewal. Institute for Professional Development typically works with institutions that:

are interested in developing or expanding off-campus degree programs for working adults;

recognize that working adults require a different teaching/learning model than the 18 to 24 year-old student;

desire to increase enrollments with a limited investment in institutional capital;  and

recognize the unmet educational needs of the working adult students in their market.

Approximately 24,100 degree-seeking students are currently enrolled in Institute for Professional Development assisted programs.

The College for Financial Planning, located near Denver, Colorado, provides financial planning education programs, including the Certified Financial Planner Professional Education Program™ certification, as well as regionally accredited graduate degree programs in financial planning, financial analysis, and finance. The College for Financial Planning also offers some of its non-degree programs at University of Phoenix campuses.

We believe that our more than 25-year history as a provider of higher education for working adults enables us to provide our students with an effective education and responsive customer service. Our expertise in designing curriculum, recruiting and training faculty, monitoring academic quality, and providing a high level of support services to students allows us to offer the following:

Accredited Degree Programs. We currently offer 19 degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, healthcare, human services, information technology, management, and nursing. The University of Phoenix is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. This regional accreditor or one of the other regional accrediting associations accredit the client institutions of Institute for Professional Development. This accreditation enables us to grant associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, while also providing students with access to federal financial aid programs.

Experienced Faculty Resources. While substantially all of our faculty are working professionals, we require each member of our faculty to possess either a master’s or doctoral degree and to have five years of recent professional experience in a field related to the subject they teach. We have well-developed methods for hiring and training our faculty, which include peer reviews of newly hired instructors by other members of the faculty, training in grading and instructing students, and a teaching mentorship with a more experienced faculty member. Our classes are designed to be small, with an average of one instructor for every fourteen students at University of Phoenix local campuses and one instructor for every eleven students at our University of Phoenix Online campus. Faculty members are also required to be accessible to students by maintaining office hours.

Current and Relevant Standardized Programs. We use content experts selected from our approximately 19,300 faculty to design our curriculum. This enables us to offer current and relevant standardized programs to our students. We also utilize an institution-wide system to assess the educational outcomes of our students and improve the quality of our curriculum and instructional model. This system evaluates the cognitive and affective skills of our students upon registration and upon conclusion of the program and also surveys students two years after graduation in order to assess the quality of the education they received.

Benefits to Employers. The employers of our students often provide input to faculty members in designing curriculum, and class projects are typically based on issues relevant to the companies that employ our students. Our classes are taught by practitioner faculty members who emphasize the skills desired by employers. In addition, the time flexibility provided by our classes further benefits employers since it avoids conflict with their employees’ work schedules. A recent survey by University of Phoenix showed that approximately 46% of its students receive some level of tuition assistance from their employers.

Teaching/ Learning Model-Degree Programs

Our teaching/learning model used by University of Phoenix and Institute for Professional Development client institutions was designed specifically to meet the educational needs of working adults. This model is structured to enable students who are employed full-time to earn their degrees and still meet their personal and professional responsibilities. Students attend weekly classes, averaging fourteen students at University of Phoenix local campuses and eleven students at our University of Phoenix Online campus, and also meet weekly as part of a three to five-person learning team. Learning team sessions are an integral part of each course. They facilitate in-depth review of and reflection on course materials. Members work together to complete assigned group projects, and develop communication and teamwork skills. Courses are designed to facilitate the application of knowledge and skills to the workplace and are taught by faculty members who possess advanced degrees and have professional experience in business, industry, government, or other professions. In this way, faculty members are able to share their professional knowledge and skills with the students.

Components of our teaching/learning model include:

Curriculum

The curriculum is designed to integrate academic theory and professional practice and their application to the workplace. The curriculum provides for the achievement of specified educational outcomes that are based on the input from faculty, students, and students’ employers. The standardized curriculum for each degree program is also designed to provide students with specified levels of knowledge and skills.

Faculty

Faculty applicants must possess an earned master’s or doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution, and have a minimum of five years recent professional experience in a field related to the subject matter in which they seek to instruct. To help promote quality delivery of the curriculum, all faculty members are required to:

• complete an initial assessment conducted by staff and faculty;

• receive training in grading, facilitation of the teaching/learning model, and oversight of learning team activities;

• complete a mentorship with an experienced faculty mentor; and

• receive ongoing performance evaluations by students, peer faculty, and staff, which are used to establish developmental plans to improve individual faculty performance and to determine continued eligibility of faculty members to provide instruction.

An Active Learning
Environment

Courses are designed to encourage and facilitate collaboration between students and interaction with the instructor. The curriculum requires a high level of student participation for purposes of enhancing learning and increasing the student’s ability to work as part of a team.

Library and Other
Learning Resource Services

Students and faculty members are provided with electronic and other learning resources for their information and research needs. Students can access these services directly through the Internet or with the help of a Learning Resource Services research librarian.

Sequential Enrollment

Students enroll in and complete classes sequentially, rather than concurrently. This permits working adults to focus their attentions and resources on one subject at a time, and creates a better balance between learning and ongoing personal and professional responsibilities.

Academic Quality

We have an Academic Quality Management System designed to maintain and improve the quality of programs and academic and student services. This system includes the Adult Learning Outcomes Assessment, which seeks to measure student growth in both the cognitive (subject matter) and affective (educational, personal, and professional values) skills.

Degree Programs and Services

University of Phoenix Programs. The following is a list of the degree programs and related areas of specialization that University of Phoenix offers:

Associate of Arts in General Studies

Bachelor of Science in Business

Areas of Specialization

Accounting

Administration

E-business

Finance

Information Systems

Management

Marketing

Public Administration

Retail Management

Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration

Bachelor of Science in Human Services Management

Bachelor of Science in Health Administration

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

Area of Specialization

Software Engineering

Bachelor of Science in Management

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Master of Arts in Education

Areas of Specialization

Administration and Supervision

Adult Education and Distance Learning

Curriculum and Instruction

Computer Education

Adult Education and Distance Learning

Curriculum and Technology

Early Childhood

Elementary Teacher Education

Secondary Teacher Education

Special Education

Master of Business Administration

Areas of Specialization

Accounting

E-business

Global Management

Health Care Management

Human Resource Management

Marketing

Technology Management

Master of Counseling

Areas of Specialization

Community Counseling

Marriage and Family Counseling

Mental Health Counseling

School Counseling

Master of Health Administration

Master of Management

Areas of Specialization

Human Resource Management

International Management

Master of Science in Nursing

Areas of Specialization

Family Nurse Practitioner

Integrative Health

Health Care Education

Master of Information Systems

Area of Specialization

Management

Doctor of Business Administration

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership

Doctor of Health Administration

Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership

Competition

The higher education market is highly fragmented and competitive with no private or public institution enjoying a significant market share. We compete primarily with four-year and two-year degree-granting public and private regionally accredited colleges and universities. Many of these colleges and universities enroll working adults in addition to the traditional 18 to 24 year-old students. We expect that these colleges and universities will continue to modify their existing programs to serve working adults more effectively. In addition, many colleges and universities have announced various distance education initiatives.

We believe that the competitive factors in the higher education market include the following:

the ability to provide easy and convenient access to programs and classes;

reliable and high-quality products and services;

qualified and experienced faculty;

cost of the program;

reputation of programs, classes, and services; and

the time necessary to earn a degree.

In terms of non-degree programs offered by us, we compete with a variety of business and information technology providers, primarily those in the for-profit training sector. Many of these competitors have significantly more market share and longer-term relationships with key vendors.

Institute for Professional Development faces competition from other entities offering higher education curriculum development and management services for adult education programs. The majority of Institute for Professional Development’s current competitors provide short-term, pre-packaged curriculum or turn-key programs.