Consulting

The Covid pandemic has raised many questions about the basic structures and assumptions of higher education. 

The overnight transition to online education left many organizations reeling. But it has also highlighted the potential for hybrid or purely distance education moving forward and removed regulatory hurdles in many countries.

Likewise, many institutions have gained new insights into the potential economies-of-scale of institutional – and international – partnerships and cooperation.

Meanwhile, demographic shifts are creating challenges or opportunities, depending on the realities of the specific region. For every institution there are the everyday issues of program expansion, curriculum reform, faculty and staff development, strategic planning, and budget rationalization. 

Experience

Lawrence Pintak has led or designed academic programs on four continents. He also has extensive experience in online education. 
Pintak is available to consult independently, collaborate on larger initiatives, or assemble teams of experts to tackle multifaceted projects.

• He was founding dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University, creating the management and financial structures of what would become a $12 million annual operation. There he launched a highly successful online master’s degree in 2013 and laid the groundwork for a fully online BA degree. 
• He led the financial and programmatic restructuring of the Graduate School of Media and Communications at Aga Khan University in East Africa, where he transformed a place-based residential graduate degree into a hybrid regional program, launched an Executive MA in Media Innovation serving four countries, and laid the groundwork for fully online versions of both, as well as an Executive MA in Strategic Communication. 
• As a consultant to the U.S. Department of State, Pintak helped create the Centre of Excellence in Journalism at Pakistan’s Institute for Business Administration, where he authored the curriculum for Pakistan’s first professional MS in journalism, developed the center's financial sustainability plan, and directed the development of an online infrastructure in the first year of the pandemic. 
• In the 2000s, Pintak supervised a major expansion of the gradate journalism program and professional training unit at the American University in Cairo, which became the model for professional journalism education in the Arab world. 
• He has advised universities in the Arab world, South Asia, the Balkans, and the Caucasus on curriculum development/reform, management structures, and sustainability. 

Sample Services

• Program development and/or restructuring
• Program evaluation 
• Needs assessments and feasibility studies
• Curriculum development
• Online education strategies
• Leadership and management training
• Financial sustainability planning
• Research and policy reports