2U VP Fein on University Partnerships and the edX Platform

Adam Fein, the new vice president of academic innovation and strategic partnerships at education technology company 2U, says his role offers a different vantage point on the challenges facing universities. Fein, who previously held online leadership roles at the University of North Texas and the University of Illinois, outlined his goals in an interview with Inside Higher Ed.

He argues that online education is now central to how institutions plan their academic portfolios and long-term strategies. Fein's position involves bringing his university-side experience to conversations about where institutions should go next and how 2U and its platform edX can assist.

Building Authentic University Partnerships

Fein, who describes himself as still being "one of you" to his university colleagues, states that partnership must start with listening. He emphasizes that there is no single model that works for every institution, as they have different missions and capabilities. A true partnership, he says, co-creates experiences for learners by combining institutional strengths with the insights and scale of an ed-tech partner.

Universities must own their strategy, according to Fein. A good partner strengthens that strategy by providing resources harder for a single institution to develop alone. These include market intelligence, aggregate data, cross-institutional experience, technology, and specialized expertise. Fein notes that you earn the role of a thought partner by understanding the institution's specific problems, not by arriving with predetermined answers.

Connecting edX and 2U's Program Portfolio

Fein pushes back against a simplified view that edX only handles low-cost certificates while 2U manages higher-cost degrees. He clarifies that 2U is the company and edX is its global learning platform. Their combined goal is to help universities view online education as an integrated portfolio.

Learners choose based on whether a university has something relevant for them at an affordable cost with a worthwhile return on investment. Fein states that edX allows institutions to reach learners across different types of learning experiences and stack those experiences to build a longer-term relationship.

The Era of Lifelong Learning

Fein describes a new era of lifelong learning, or the "60-year curriculum," where students will engage with institutions multiple times throughout their careers. The institution that best serves students, he argues, is not the one that graduates them once but the one that helps them adapt continuously over a lifetime.

He expresses excitement about 2U's university partners who have deep expertise in high-demand fields like AI, technology, business, and healthcare. The edX platform, he says, provides a way to deliver that expertise to learners throughout their careers with high visibility and recognition for quality.

Fein concludes that the focus should not be on building more certificates for every university. Instead, he suggests jointly examining where an institution has distinctive expertise, where learner and employer demand exists, and how offerings fit into the broader portfolio. The goal, he says, is true partnerships centered on trust and reaching the right learners with the right program at the right time.