Times Higher Education has acquired the US news provider Inside Higher Ed for an undisclosed fee.
Together, the higher education publications will reach an audience exceeding 50 million unique users per year.
Scott Jaschik, founder of Inside Higher Ed, said he was “thrilled to be joining forces with THE”. Jaschik founded the US publication with fellow co-editor Doug Lederman in 2004.
“We have often collaborated with THE and this new chapter in our relationship will allow us to be more effective than ever at informing the world about higher education, while also expanding our ability to provide essential tools and services to help organisations and professionals be more effective,” he said.
Paul Howarth, CEO of Times Higher, speaking with The PIE, explained he was excited about the opportunity to bring core THE products to IHE’s US audience, which are not currently offered, such as in-person events.
“I think the core one for me, which I’m particularly excited about is THE Campus,” he said. “This is a thought leadership platform that we launched not quite a year ago, which looks at various different verticals, such as blended & online learning, sustainability and yet more to come.”
Howarth explained that since launch, there has been an increasing US population reading the content, and a number of US institutions THE has partnered with on content. “So I see IHE as a real accelerator for that platform.”
THE, which was acquired by Inflexion Private Equity in February 2019, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021 and has offices in the UK, US, Australia and Singapore.
“We are in a position to further strengthen our position in the market through strategic acquisitions”
“We look forward to working with Scott, Doug, Inside Higher Ed CEO Dari Gessner and the wider Inside Higher Ed team, so that together we can do even more to support universities and colleges across the US, and the rest of the world,” added Howarth.
THE has recently expanded into the study abroad sector with the launch of student-facing THE Student and with an associated raft of partnerships, such as agreements with agent aggregator ApplyBoard and education search site Studyportals.
As part of the acquisition of the US media company, Inside Higher Ed will continue to operate independently under its existing brand.
“With the backing of our investors at Inflexion Private Equity, we are in a position to further strengthen our position in the market through strategic acquisitions,” Howarth added.
