Abstract
This case study, which uses interventionist action research methodology, first describes key elements of the online business model which was implemented at a business school in Arctic Norway. The aim of the business model intervention was to create a growth in student influx. Next, the study examines the actual impact of the intervention in terms of number of online applicants over the last decade. The findings show that the online courses hit a “nerve” in the Norwegian market for higher education as now more than a thousand students, scattered all over the country, apply for admission. Thereafter, the study investigates why students choose to study online. The results disclose that the main motive for choosing online studies is that they better meet students’ needs for different types of study flexibility. Finally, this research explores whether online studies cannibalizes the traditional campus model in a non-sustainable way. The findings show that online and traditional campus studies do not compete, but instead complement each other as they attract different target groups of students. Online studies serve as an essential channel for lifelong learning as the students were mainly well-educated women who worked full-time or part-time. Finally, strategic insights from the process of launching sustainable online studies by a rural business school are discussed.
Highlights
The landscape of higher education is changing as there is an ongoing digital transformation of the sector [1,2]
The staff at Campus Alta has for years built and implemented an online business model, which has recruited online students in the local and national market for economic and management studies
The online model was implemented in parallel with the traditional campus model and has served as the key driver of the growth strategy of the business school
Summary
The landscape of higher education is changing as there is an ongoing digital transformation of the sector [1,2]. New technology is pushing [4], at the same time as the market is pulling, institutions in a digital direction because more and more digitally competent students are demanding flexible education [5,6]. People want to study what they want, where they want, and when they have the time for it It is this need for flexibility that the phenomenon of online education attempts to satisfy [7]. The current business school at Campus Alta is the result of a merger between the University College of Finnmark (1994–2013) and the business school at UiT Campus Tromsø The purpose of the former University College was to provide competence enhancement to people throughout the whole Finnmark region. For the model to be financially sustainable, there was a need for more students or other strong additional funding
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