Modern Campus, the leading engagement platform for higher education, announced the acquisition of Augusoft, a leader in enrollment management for continuing and corporate education programs.
The acquisition extends the Modern Campus customer base to nearly 2,000 colleges and universities across North America and allows the company to further advance and improve the delivery of continuing education while engaging modern learners for life.
Post the acquisition, Augusoft employees will join Modern Campus, adding to a higher education powerhouse of exceptional industry talent. Brian Kibby will remain CEO of Modern Campus, and Cem Erdem will join the Modern Campus board of directors.
With enrollment for traditional two- and four-year programs declining across most campuses, higher education institutions are investing in continuing, professional, and workforce education to fuel enrollment growth while delivering on their institutional mission to expand learning experiences, reach diverse populations, and create employment opportunities.
Founded in 1994, Augusoft is a privately held company that provides cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) enrollment management solutions for continuing and corporate education programs throughout the US and Canada. The platform uses the latest technology to develop and maintain Lumens and has aggressive standards in place to ensure Lumens is always available and fully functional when an individual needs it. Augusoft’s core product Lumens is an enrollment management system designed specifically for the non-credit education market. It offers community education registration software, certificate program registration software, workforce development registration software and corporate training management software.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Augusoft's all product development and customer support teams operate within corporate headquarters, with Augusoft sales offices located throughout the US.
Speaking about the acquisition, Founder and CEO of Augusoft, Cem Erdem, said, "Augusoft and Modern Campus have long been the two most successful software providers serving the continuing education market. By joining forces, we can now offer a one-stop shop for all CE programs. We’re thrilled to team with leaders like The Riverside Company and Modern Campus who share our belief in the importance of lifelong learning and how our education system needs to adapt to the changing needs of modern learners."
Complementing traditional academic systems, Augusoft Lumens increases online self-registrations up to 80%, reduces cancellation rates, and provides the best data collection and reporting tools.
The company claims to have served hundreds of schools throughout the US and Canada. Over 8 million students have registered for continuing education classes and over $3 billion in transactions have been processed using Augusoft Lumens.
Principal of The Riverside Company, the equity partner for Modern Campus, Stephen Rice, added, "Investing in Destiny Solutions, the creator of Destiny One, is how our relationship with Modern Campus began in 2018. Our dedication to serving lifelong learners is well-earned. That makes this news—two industry leaders coming together to serve non-traditional learners in a cohesive way—an exciting next chapter for Modern Campus and The Riverside Company."
Modern Campus offers a competing student management system for non-traditional enrollment called Destiny One. As colleges and universities continue to look to expand online learning, certificate and workforce development offerings to combat dropping enrollment, both companies offer solutions designed for students seeking credentials outside of degrees, like certificates or badges.
The company is obsessed with empowering its 1,700+ higher education customers to thrive when radical transformation is required to respond to lower student enrollments and revenue, rising costs, crushing student debt and administrative complexity.
Modern Campus, which was formed through a merger of two EdTech firms last year, serves nearly 2,000 higher education institutions.
The Augusoft announcement comes one week after the National Student Clearinghouse released data showing that although overall enrollment continues to slide, institutions are seeing more first-time enrollment from students over the age of 24 and in undergraduate programs outside of associates and bachelor’s degrees, such as certificates and unstructured programs.
The latest transaction marks the fifth acquisition by Modern Campus in the past 12 months. The company acquired interactive campus map and virtual tour provider nuCloud in early 2021, followed by academic catalogue and curriculum management provider DIGARC, and student engagement and development leader Presence.
Earlier this month, Modern Campus announced its acquisition of leading higher education text-messaging provider Signal Vine.
