UNext.com adds jobs, decreases 'brain drain'

UNext.com, a Chicago-based online education company, set up shop in Bloomington last winter. In collaboration with municipal government, it's been fighting hard against the so-called "brain drain," which has taken IU graduates away from Indiana because of a lacking information technology sector. \n Mayor John Fernandez named UNext's Bill West, managing director of the Bloomington office, as the chair of the city's information and technology services department, whose goal is to attract more information technology companies and employees to the area.\nWest seems cut out for the job.\nThe Bloomington office, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary in January, is already posting significant achievements in retention. \n"Seventy percent of our employees are IU alumni, and 30 percent of those actually moved back to Bloomington for the positions," he said.\nFernandez was enthusiastic about UNext.\n"Bloomington has a competitive advantage as a community," he said. "The jobs created by UNext will maintain the quality of life and the quality of work we're proud of and the kind of work that will stimulate the new economy."\nUNext originally projected the creation of 150 full-time jobs in its first two years. After one year, it has 60 employees with an additional 20 "content experts," mostly faculty and executives who are contracted for extended periods of time. \nWest estimates the company's growth rate is between 25 and 50 percent. \nThomas Duffy, UNext's chief learning officer and vice president, remains optimistic about achieving the 150-employee goal. \n "There are a lot of talented people (in information technology) in Bloomington,;this is a great location," said Duffy, an education professor on leave of absence to work with UNext in its main office in Chicago.\n To connect the Bloomington office, UNext has partnered with Kiva and Ameritech, which West said has amply served its bandwidth needs.\nAnd UNext should have no problem funding its ventures, according to market data. \n"It's safe to say that investing in the business of online ABCs has, by any number of measures, a lot of potential," Fortune Small Business said in a report Tuesday, as the Nasdaq composite index recorded a 338 point gain, the highest in its 29-year history.\nIn the "new economy," the area of education technology appears to be especially promising. \nBoston-based Eduventures.com, a research firm, reports "unprecedented growth." It forecasts $4 billion in total private investment in education technology for 2000. That's up from $30 million in 1990, just less than $1 billion in 1998 and $2.6 billion in 1999.\nEduventures.com also reports venture capital investment in education reached $690 million in the third quarter, nearly 7 percent above second quarter figures. While this figure was 25 percent below the first quarter's record-setting pace, it remains well above historical rates of private investment in education.\nTo date, the Bloomington office has 25 corporate clients for its MBA and executive education courses. It offers 25 MBA courses and about 10 executive education courses.\nDuffy said the company still has six to 12 months of development before completing the MBA graduate program. But by the first anniversary, it expects to bring the total number of courses to 70, 40 in the MBA and 30 in the executive education programs.\nUNext is also looking to expand beyond its MBA and executive education programs, but it has not identified where it is headed.\nWest said he hopes UNext will continue to draw IU graduates, especially from the new School of Informatics, which will graduate its first students this spring. While UNext has not specifically targeted them, it has given many general presentations on campus. \nWest said keeping people in Bloomington shouldn't be difficult.\n"It's a great city"