Adult-education services at university level

Tender description

Ulster University will shortly be undertaking a procurement exercise (in accordance with the competitive dialogue process applicable under the Regulations) to select an Online Programme Management (OPM) partner to participate in a Global Online Education Venture, which aims to grow a substantial high quality and premium Global Online Education portfolio for the University. The objective of the venture is to accelerate to a diverse, versatile and agile portfolio at scale with bespoke design and development for targeted markets that break from the traditional academic calendar and which lower common academic and professional services barriers of curriculum design, development, recruitment, delivery and support. This prior information notice does not constitute a call for competition and is intended to provide advance notice and information only for interested parties about the forthcoming procurement exercise. The university currently has strong credentials in online education with a significant portfolio of courses delivered through online distance learning. The requirement from the successful OPM provider for this new venture will include, inter alia, the following: — market analysis, — product development and curriculum design, — marketing, — recruitment and student retention, — within an agreed portfolio of strategic development. The anticipated level of development is postgraduate, the teaching medium will be the English language; the fee level will be premium; and the anticipated scale will be of the order of thousands enrolled in steady state with a few years. The preferred approach to marketing, design and delivery will be on a carousel model. Market research, programme hunt, development lift rate, targeting, enrolment growth and price point will be determined in the competitive dialogue phase. Strategic selection of high quality provision will start with the University’s established prospectus and will progress to new and interdisciplinary opportunities. Fee revenue expectation in mature stages is of the order of 40 000 000 GBP. It is envisaged that, following successful conclusion of the tender process, the university will enter into a long-term arrangement (potentially in the region of 10 years) with the OPM provider.