Published date: 5 August 2022

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 10 October 2022, 12pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Higher education services - 80300000

  • E-learning services - 80420000

  • Adult-education services at university level - 80430000

Location of contract

S1 1WB

Value of contract

£50,000,000

Procurement reference

2122-53-TRM-RD

Published date

5 August 2022

Closing date

10 October 2022

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

22 November 2022

Contract end date

21 November 2030

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (above threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

The university has an ambitious plan for its taught portfolio, recognising the significant demand for skills development and the opportunity for a truly applied higher education experience. As a part of our strategy the university is seeking to extend its portfolio into the UK and Global online market to capitalise on its growing reputation as a leading applied and entrepreneurial university.

The university is seeking a commercial partnership to develop, scale and grow our online portfolio and extend our brand nationally and globally, in an operationally and financially sustainable way. We expect the partnership to be for up to 12 years with a value of up to £50m for the partner. We are looking for an online education partner with a considerable track record of partnering with Higher Education institutions, who will work with us to develop a new wholly online portfolio of post-graduate courses that reflect our ambition to be the world's leading applied university and ensure we are able to reach prospective students on a UK and global stage.

We are not seeking a model whereby the University only validates or accredits the provision - our vision for an online portfolio is founded on the premise that our online students will feel a part of Sheffield Hallam University and will be able to benefit from our teaching, learning and distinctive Hallam Model. We are not however expecting there to be any mandatory attendance on campus as a part of the course delivery; the desired model is a fully online one.

The university's current online portfolio (c.22 courses of which 17 are postgraduate level) has been developed organically for a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) market, predominantly in the health and education areas. We are not seeking in the first instance to replace any of this existing provision; rather we are looking to develop an additional offer with potential to attract high student numbers from both UK and international markets. As the partnership matures and we build capacity and capability within Sheffield Hallam we will want the flexibility to add to the portfolio and respond with agility to global trends and potential changes to UK market opportunities.

More information

Previous notice about this procurement

Preliminary Market Consultation - Online Learning Partner

  • Early engagement
  • Published 5 January 2022, last edited 5 January 2022

About the buyer

Contact name

Procurement Team

Address

City Campus,Howard Street
SHEFFIELD
S11WB
England

Email

strategicprocurement@shu.ac.uk