Dive Brief:

• An accreditor has rejected the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s controversial planned partnership with Laureate Education.
• Five former Thunderbird trustees, endorsed by the Thunderbird Independent Alumni Association, had filed a complaint with the accreditor, calling the proposed joint venture “a radical shift” in the structure and direction of the school.
• The accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, has given Thunderbird the option of submitting a new application.

Dive Insight:

Some Thunderbird alumni and former trustees have been vehemently opposed to the proposal, calling it a hostile takeover by Baltimore-based Laureate, which is the corporate successor to Sylvan Learning Systems tutoring. Laureate has campuses in 30 countries with 800,000 students. Under the proposal, Phoenix-based Thunderbird would be independent, but with a joint operating company controlled by Laureate helping to run it. Critics say the partnership would cheapen a Thunderbird degree.