A contract between 2U and the University of California at Berkeley sheds light on how applicant data might be used for marketing purposes when a university outsources its recruiting to an online “enabler,” a company that helps traditional institutions move their programs to the web.
In January 2013, Berkeley signed a contract with 2U to have the company help build its new online master’s program in data science. One of the company’s main responsibilities under the contract, which The Chronicle obtained via a public-records request, is getting prospective students to apply to the program.
If a student is denied admission or decides not to enroll, Berkeley gives 2U permission to use the information the student submitted during the application process to recruit that student to a similar master’s program that the company is building with Southern Methodist University. (About 75 percent of the students who apply to the Berkeley program are denied admission.)
According to the contract, students who apply to the Berkeley program but do not enroll might then receive emails from 2U telling them about the program at Southern Methodist.
“Although the University of California (‘UC’) was unable to offer you admission, we as UC’s technology-service provider appreciate your interest in and desire to pursue a graduate degree in the data-science field,” reads a draft of the letter sent to rejected applicants. “With this in mind,” it continues, “we wanted to let you know about DataScience@SMU, the online Master of Science in Data Science program from SMU.”
2U has similar arrangements with other universities. The company recruits for nursing programs at both Georgetown and Simmons Universities, social-work programs at both the University of Southern California and Simmons, and business programs at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Syracuse University.
In each case, the company has obtained institutional permission to use the data from non-enrolling applicants to one program to recruit for the other, according to Chance Patterson, a company spokesman.
Prospective students can choose to block 2U from trying to recruit them to other programs by unchecking boxes that appear during the application process. Officials at both 2U and Berkeley emphasized that detail, saying that getting “consent” from prospective students is an important threshold. Prospective students are given several chances to opt out, says Mr. Patterson.
“Anything we’re doing with potential applicants, we need to make sure everybody’s signed off on it, including the potential applicant,” says Chip Paucek, 2U’s chief executive officer.
As part of its agreement with Berkeley, the company has to pay the university 14 installments of $300,000 in exchange for a slate of rights and licenses that includes the permission to reuse data from Berkeley applicants to recruit for its other partners.
Company officials say the payments—worth $4.2-million in total—are primarily a penalty for starting a competing program with Southern Methodist before the exclusivity clause in its contract with Berkeley had expired. But AnnaLee Saxenian, dean of Berkeley’s information school, says the payments are, at least in part, a fee 2U is paying the university for the right to contact prospective students who don’t enroll there.
Berkeley wrestled with the decision to let 2U use its applicant pool to recruit for the Southern Methodist program. “It’s not something that universities typically do,” says Ms. Saxenian. “It’s something that received a lot of attention here.”
Ultimately, the dean and her colleagues decided to let the company recycle data from Berkeley applicants as long as they had not opted out. “We came to the conclusion that these are adults who are making decisions,” says Ms. Saxenian, noting that most applicants are in their 30s.
Berkeley nevertheless took care to distance itself from 2U’s recruiting for Southern Methodist, requiring the company to append the following text to its emails to erstwhile Berkeley applicants:
“The letter above (‘the letter’) is sent on behalf of 2U Inc., not the University of California (UC). UC does not approve or endorse, and is not responsible in any manner for the letter or its content, accuracy, any opinions expressed or recommendations made therein.”
