Director: Daniel C. Levy

International For-Profit in Chile

PROPHE Summary (by Yingying Xu):
The for-profit University of the Americas, owned by Sylvan Learning Systems, is Chile's largest and most rapidly growing private university. Spending heavily on marketing, the Americas produces big profits while eliciting derision from much of Chile's academic establishment. Critics point to low quality with high tuition, and therefore poor value. In response, Americas claims to offer access, innovation, efficiency, and international ties.

For the full story (shown with permission) see the Chronicle of Higher Education, June 27, 2003, "In Chile, a Fast-Growing University, Owned by Sylvan, Produces Profits and Scorn," by Burton Bollag.
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i42/42a02301.htm

PROPHE Observation (by Daniel C. Levy):
Chile's University of the Americas represents part of the expanding Sylvan system worldwide. That system, in turn, represents a notable expansion in for-profit higher education and in international links. Both the criticisms and the defenses of the Americas' performance are mostly typical of those surrounding proliferating for-profits in higher education.