UMUC to change name, grow national marketing efforts

University of Maryland University College plans to change its name to University of Maryland Global Campus as the university seeks to become one of the top online universities in the country.

The Board of Public Works Wednesday approved $500 million over six years in contracts for the university to market itself to the country.

“Most analysts believe that there will be a few national brands left in this space,” Javier Miyares, the university’s president, told the board. “We believe that Maryland has a golden opportunity to have an institution among that group, which will result in our being able to continue to subsidize the education of Marylanders. In this plan to go national, the big ticket is marketing.”

The university’s name change to University of Maryland Global Campus has been approved by the University System of Maryland Board of Regents. It was presented to the Maryland Higher Education Commission Wednesday, but no action was taken.

It still needs approval from the Maryland General Assembly, where a bill was introduced Wednesday by Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s, to change the name.

The university believes the name change better reflects the university’s global footprint. It serves about 90,000 students around the world.

Market research conducted in 2017 found that students and prospective students thought University of Maryland University College was redundant and that it was a source of confusion.

University of Maryland University College was founded in 1947 as a part of the University of Maryland, College Park, focusing on adult, military and nontraditional students. In 1959, it became University of Maryland University College, and in 1970 it became an independently accredited university.

Today about 85 percent of its enrollments are online, and about 95 percent are either online or in a hybrid format.

The university’s home market has been Maryland and northern Virginia, as well as a significant presence in the military. But the university believes it has reached as many people as it can locally.

“That market is thoroughly tapped,” Miyares said. “I think it’s fair to say that if you live in this area, you cannot not notice our ads on TV, buses, etc. So we are really maxing out in this area. So for us to continue to grow, we have to go outside of Maryland to create a national footprint.”

To help the university grow that footprint, the Board of Public Works, made up of Gov. Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, approved contracts totaling $500 million over six years for university marketing. That includes four contracts for $250 million for digital marketing and five contracts for $250 million for offline marketing.

The school’s revenues are primarily from tuition; less than 11 percent of its funding comes from the state.

Some of the university’s top competitors nationally include Southern New Hampshire University, University of Colorado and Purdue University Global, the former Kaplan University.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated where the name change is in the approval process. The name change proposal was presented to the Maryland Higher Education Commission, but no action has been taken on the proposal.