Educating Working Adults: Walden University President Jonathan Kaplan (Part 2)

SM: What is the focus of Walden University today?

JK: Today, our focus remains entirely on the mission of the university. That mission remains positive social change. Entrepreneurs are incredibly mission-focused. One of the things that is remarkable about Walden as a university first and a for-profit enterprise second is that we have been enormously mission-focused from the very beginning. One of the critical aspects to Walden’s success is that focus on the
mission of effecting positive social change.

The need to segment a market effectively is essential to any successful organization. We are not all things to all people. We are not all things to all students. In speaking to successful students, we look for those who share our commitment to social change. We want to make sure that their focus on advanced education is not only about enabling their own success but looks beyond that as well. That has contributed to our success from a curriculum standpoint as well as a market segmentation standpoint.

SM: What are the segments that Walden caters to today, and how do you choose to go after them?

JK: There are a wide range of segments. There are larger market segments that remain core to what we do all the time. The professional market is one, and that comprises working adults. Every one of our students is a working adult. Many people think of a university as 18- to 22-year-olds, but we don’t have any 18- to 22-year-olds. The average age of our students is 39. A typical student is a working mother. That market segment remains core.

Having said that, the process we go through to look at new areas to pursue in terms of degree programs or specialization is to identify, through research, what kinds of workforce needs there are in the job market. We do not offer new programs the way a typical, traditional university does where a faculty member will develop and offer a new program based on their personal interests. We look to bring in faculty around areas we know are in greatest need from a workforce and jobs standpoint.

A prime example is the critical need for nurse educators. This is in part because the seats are so few in nursing programs. We launched a nurse educator program at the graduate level several years ago. Because we are online and we have an approach that looks at market needs, we created a program that has 3,000 to 4,000 students in a matter of two to three years. We were able to go from 0 to 60 very quickly.

That is obviously a financially successful program for the university. It also has a significant impact on the workforce and addresses workforce needs. We can address needs in the job market in a similar fashion and move very quickly with our response.

SM: What is the status of the nursing program? Clearly nursing education is a gaping hole. To what extent will you and your peers cope with that need? I cannot understand why we have this gap in nursing. It is not a new profession. We have 30 million unemployed people in the United States. How can a gap like that open up?

JK: I don’t know that I have the complete answer. I know as we looked at the market for nurse educators and leaders, we found it to be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. One of the reasons there was a real need for nurse educators was that there were not enough nurse education programs nor enough faculty to teach them. That program area is about teaching teachers. Our program and others like it have began to shake that system up a bit and put more nurse educators into the system.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Educating Working Adults: Walden University President Jonathan Kaplan
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