IT University Online (ITU) experiments with marketing through Groupon, offering their Cisco Certification Training Bundle.
The online certification training university wanted to expand its reach, leveraging the power of Groupon, at a much lower price point.
ITU aims to reach more IT professionals and those aspiring to enter the industry, previously put off by the cost.
IT University aims to help students develop a strong aptitude and skill-set for the real IT world. The curriculum is specifically designed to help students become certified, using the university’s curriculum design principles in their courses.
ITU says this experiment is working very well. More than 1,000 new students have enrolled through Groupon in the few days since it opened. The offer of five packages is only available for three more days, at the time of writing.
IT University Success
IT University attributes much of its success to hand-picked instructors using stringent criteria. The university says it looks for the best subject matter experts the IT industry has to offer.
The quality of the instructors has resulted in a more than 90 percent student pass rate. The uni says “the combination of instructor-led lectures, multimedia presentations, practice quizzes/exams, and one-on-one support” created the environment for excellent outcomes.
The IT industry has a high demand for staff with the right certification. For example, companies with networking needs create a high demand for CISCO CCNA or CCNP certifications.
This ITU Groupon offer lowered the course cost to $99 to massively increase uptake to cover unmet demand. A review of job boards shows hundreds of available jobs waiting to be filled in Dallas and Los Angeles and Toronto, and throughout Canada and the USA.
The Groupon offer is available in Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver.
Update
After the offer closed, IT University Online revealed that more than 2,000 peopleenrolled in ITU’s start of the art program.
