Quest University - Another one bites the dust

[bjcheung77]

Interesting, I thought there was a post I created in regards to this institution closing but couldn't find that post, It's kind of sad seeing so many institutions go bust...  Anyways, I happen to notice the executive staff list, so I went through their Linkedin details...

The President actually is a Regent's College graduate! Yes, that was the entity that changed names so many times and finally ended with Excelsior University as we now know it... A few of their exec's have PhD's, how did they fail?!

Link: https://questu.ca/announcement/

[David_Henrickson]

Interesting, I thought there was a post I created in regards to this institution closing but couldn't find that post, It's kind of sad seeing so many institutions go bust...  Anyways, I happen to notice the executive staff list, so I went through their Linkedin details...

The President actually is a Regent's College graduate! Yes, that was the entity that changed names so many times and finally ended with Excelsior University as we now know it... A few of their exec's have PhD's, how did they fail?!

Link: https://questu.ca/announcement/

Thank you for sharing!

[JPN]

I sent a letter to the Board of Governors a few months ago suggesting that they become an online college that focuses on experiential/on the job/in field learning opportunities, and accept alt credit like CLEP, ACE, etc., similar to the Learning at Work degrees offered by Portsmouth. It could've been a significant augmentation of their brick and mortar education. I imagine it fell on deaf ears or I was a bit naive to think they'd take it into consideration, but I do think there are ways for post-secondary institutions to adapt and remain dynamic in a changing environment. Their on-campus enrollment was declining, but their pedagogical discoveries were valued and should remain considered - learning can come from many different places, whether that's alt-credit, portfolios or independent study projects.

Also, for those that don't know, Quest University was always kind of a weird university by Canadian standards. It was founded by faculty from other institutions in British Columbia who valued non-traditional learning and wanted to validate a model of non-traditional learning. It was organized as a SLAC / small liberal arts college with inspiration from Colorado College.

As far as its local reputation goes, a lot of the students I know that went to Quest University were the well-off kids who were a bit of slackers. They could afford the $22,000 CAD annual tuition (which is very high by Canadian standards) and wanted a general studies education that they could tailor. A large number went onto professional degrees afterwards.

[bjcheung77]

Here's an update: https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/ne...niversity/

[ss20ts]

I guess the quest has come to an end.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Terrible track record for Canadian private university startups with very corporate names:

Meritus University, for-profit online, owned by University of Phoenix, New Brunswick. 2008-2011.
Unexus University, later Lansbridge University, for-profit online, New Brunswick. 1991-2018.
Quest University, non-profit B&M, British Columbia. 2002-2025.

University Canada West, for-profit hybrid, British Columbia, est. 2005, survives but I'm sure it's watching its back…

[bjcheung77]

Directly from CapU: https://www.capilanou.ca/about-capu/get-...730-en.php