Apollo, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, has made a relatively senior hire to head up their international efforts.
Though Apollo has a presence in Mexico and has dabbled in the Netherlands, for the most part it has left Doug Becker and Laureate free to roam the world building a massive university network.
Kaplan (part of the Washington Post) is the only other firm to have made some meaningful efforts internationally. Devry owns Ross down in the Caribbean but overall neither firm comes close to matching Laureate's international focus.
I think what has happened is that the US higher education market (adult and online) was so good for so long for the major firms that they did not feel much urgency to go international where capital investment costs are higher and private universities still tend to cater to traditional, campus-based 18-24 year students.
Astute observers will remember that Laureate is in the process of being taken private by KKR, SAC and others.
A Wall Street analyst who is a well-known commentator of the for-profit higher-education industry has jumped ship to work for one of the companies he has long been following for clients, the Apollo Group Inc.
Apollo, which is the parent company of the University of Phoenix, announced that effective today, Gregory Cappelli, an analyst with Credit Suisse, will become executive vice president for global strategy, and an assistant to John G. Sperling, the company’s founder and executive chairman.
Full but short post is on the Chronicle of Higher Education Blog.