DUE DILIGENCE ON NOMINEES FOR THE 2009 AWARD FOR

UNCLAS BRIDGETOWN 000487

SIPDIS

EEB/EPPD NANCY SMITH-NISSLEY, WHA SGARRO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AMGT BEXP ECON ELAB ETRD KSEP SENV
SUBJECT: DUE DILIGENCE ON NOMINEES FOR THE 2009 AWARD FOR
CORPORATE EXCELLENCE - MONROE COLLEGE SAINT LUCIA

REF: STATE 78538



1. (U) This cable provides Embassy Bridgetown's response to
reftel due diligence request concerning ACE Nominee Monroe
College. Answers are keyed to reftel questions. Septel will
address questions regarding Discovery Works in St. Vincent.


2. (SBU) Request for Bridgetown: Provide background on the
for-profit or non-profit status of Monroe College. Explain
how this nomination qualifies as a business.

Monroe College in Saint Lucia is a branch campus of Monroe
College, based in New York. Monroe College is a for-profit
institution that provides educational services to American
citizens and exports its educational services through study
abroad programs and through its branch campus in St. Lucia.
Education services represent a significant and growing
percentage of the $1.7 trillion U.S. services market, with
international students contributing $15.5 billion to the U.S.
economy. Over 700,000 F,M and J visas were issued in 2008.
The U.S. leads the competitive education services market, but
Australia, New Zealand and Canada are growing at faster
rates, partly due to the perception that visas to those
countries are easier to acquire. The expansion overseas of
U.S. educational institutions is thus a natural progression
to capture greater market share of students interested in
pursuing a higher education.

In the Eastern Caribbean there is a dearth of quality
institutions offering university level education. Most
students who decide to study abroad matriculate to either the
U.S., Canada or the U.K. Monroe College receives a large
number of Eastern Caribbean students at their New York
campus, but has opened up a branch campus in St. Lucia to
target those students who either cannot afford to study
abroad, or who would prefer to stay closer to home for work
and family reasons. This is an especially lucrative market
that has been poorly served by correspondence schools, but
was thirsting for a more tangible local presence. Monroe has
been very successful, rapidly expanding their student base
and adding an MBA program for working professionals. While
many schools in the U.S. are non-profits, for-profit
educational institutions are a growing segment of the higher
education sector and, according to J.P. Morgan, now represent
seven percent of post-secondary enrollment, comprising 2.8
million students. For-profits are challenging community
colleges as a cost-effective way to improve job skills.
Apollo Group (which owns the University of Phoenix),ITT and
Devry are all publicly traded companies that focus on the
education market and have a combined market capitalization of
around $18 billion. Monroe College, while privately held, is
an expanding member of this profitable and valuable corporate
segment. While post recognizes that this represents a
non-traditional nomination, we believe it showcases America's
leadership in a critical area of the services sector.


3. (SBU) Responses to requested information.

A) Are there possible negatives or risks of U.S.
embarrassment that could result from the potential selection
of your post's nominee?

No.

B) Do you have any information concerning job creation in the
United States resulting from the operations of the company
you nominated?

The expansion into St. Lucia resulted in increased hiring of
faculty and administrative staff to handle the increased
student population. Monroe has five employees from the U.S
based at the St. Lucia campus. In addition, furniture,
computers, printed materials, and all textbooks come from the
U.S.

C) What is your assessment of the company's trade and
investment activities with regard to helping stimulate
economic growth in the U.S. and increasing American exports
(what is the U.S. content of its products)?

Education is classified as a service, and when provided to a
foreign customer is an export for trade purposes. Monroe
College provides exports through the foreign students
attending Monroe College in New York and those attending the
branch campus in St. Lucia. This export is 100 percent U.S.
content.

D) What is the state of labor conditions in the company's
facilities and are workers unionized?

Employees are paid above the local wage and have not
unionized. All employees receive vacation, personal and sick
days, with life insurance at three times their salary fully
funded by the college. Employees also receive annual bonuses
and annual salary increases of three to six percent, based on
job performance.

E) Are you aware of any litigation pending in local courts
involving the company?

No.

F) Please confirm that the Chief of Mission and others
involved in the nominating process do not hold shares of
stock or have other financial interests in the company.

No persons involved in the nominating process have any
financial interests in the company.

HARDT