Judith Murray, Vice President -- Open Learning, Thompson Rivers University

This was a great conversation in Vancouver. I ran into Judith Murray downtown before heading down to Seattle for the third leg of my tour.

At some point during our conversation, Judith pointed out that for-profit education fills in the gaps in the market, especially needs that are voiced by non-traditional students.


Thompson Rivers University is all about "removing the barriers to entry [for education]. We don't deny admission because you don't have something. We look at what you have done in other areas to see what you have done. We do continuous enrollment, people can start everyday, and we do hundreds of admissions a week," she says.




What I love about the for-profit conversation makers I have met is that all of them seem geared towards finding more students that are being overlooked. In essence, everyone is a potential student, because everyone encounters moments in life where they need more learning -- learning about health, learning business strategies, brushing up on accounting.

Everyone, it would seem, is looking to be placed somewhere higher, or looking to achieve something. It's been great to listen to how these for-profits so aggressively search for solutions to make this possible for people.