A US education company involving Arizona State University bills itself as ¡°accelerating¡± universities around the world to growth and creating ¡°start-ups¡± using a new model, a global network with a ¡°very powerful university at the centre¡± rather than a corporation.

Cintana Education was founded by Douglas Becker, founder of Laureate Education, in collaboration with ASU ¨C a public university known as a giant of online education ¨C and its president, Michael Crow.

After initially announcing their link-up in 2019 but seeing it held up by Covid, Mr Becker offered further details on the emerging global network, so far numbering eight ¡°affiliates¡±.

Mr Becker, who in 2018 left Laureate, which has been described as the world¡¯s biggest for-profit university company, said it was now possible to envisage that ¡°we could have a network with 100 universities in it¡±.

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¡°Laureate became a global network of universities with a very powerful corporation at the centre ¨C which is great and I loved spending 20 years of my life doing that,¡± he said. ¡°But Cintana is conceived as a network of universities with a very powerful university at the centre, and that¡¯s Arizona State.¡±

That would open up to affiliate universities the chance of research collaboration with ASU faculty and pathways to dual degrees.

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Mr Becker described the two different models Cintana would focus on, the first being ¡°acceleration¡± for an existing university, a path being followed by one Cintana affiliate, the non-profit Universidad Aut¨®noma de Guadalajara, the oldest private university in Mexico. The university has 12,000 students, but ¡°they want to be a national player, they want to be online, they want to be recognised, they may have an interest in becoming US accredited¡±, said Mr Becker.

The institution can now ¡°call itself powered by ASU¡± and ¡°through Cintana have access to a repository of content that allows them to utilise ASU¡¯s curriculum in their own curriculum in Mexico¡±, he continued.

The other model will be the creation of new universities, where another Cintana affiliate is the , scheduled to open in 2022. There, Mr Becker said, ¡°three of the largest employers in Ukraine have teamed together to fund the creation of a new university because they want to see innovation in higher education to drive and support the workforce of the future. Who better to help with that than a university like ASU?¡±

Most universities partnering with Cintana will be ¡°non-profit and in some cases government linked¡±, where universities or ministers are looking for new models to drive innovation or to build capacity, he said.

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In terms of Cintana¡¯s corporate structure, Mr Becker said ASU¡¯s enterprise arm was among the shareholders. ¡°It¡¯s a for-profit corporation, but it is a public benefit corporation,¡± he continued, ¡°which in the US is really meant to create a framework for companies that are very mission driven, that aren¡¯t only about generating shareholder returns but that want to access investor capital.¡±

Cintana would not acquire or invest capital in universities, ¡°however, what we are doing is investing an enormous amount of¡­human capital; we will drop in experts in strategy and planning¡­drop in an expert on medicine, on online education¡± or on navigating the path to securing US accreditation, Mr Becker said.

The university will ¡°share with us some small percentage of their increased growth¡±, meaning ¡°we can get repaid for that over a very long time¡±, he added.

Dr?Crow said: ¡°ASU is engaging with the intention of being part of a movement around the world to expand access to higher education and to expand high-quality outcomes.¡±

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john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com