The Learning Annex, the adult education program that often features authors as teachers, has acquired Open U., a similar venture located in Minneapolis. "We needed to have a location in the middle of the country," explained Steve Schragis, Learning Annex's national director. Learning Annex's schools are in New York and California as well as Canada.
After a transition period in which Open U. catalogues will include both the Open U. and Learning Annex names, the catalogues and school will be converted to Learning Annex by next year. Schragis invested in the purchase and will be Open U.'s managing director. Open U. currently has more than 12,000 students and about 300 instructors. Schragis is encouraging publicists to include the Minneapolis school when their authors are touring in the Midwest.
Schragis said the Learning Annex is looking at acquiring a few more schools, although no more deals are expected to be completed this year.
