A joint exploration of organisational alignment by Jesus College Cambridge and Online Education Services
Innovation may feature its solitary geniuses, but it flourishes just as powerfully when minds are aligned on purpose. Think of the Wright brothers: one a methodical engineer, the other a restless experimentalist; or of MIT Media Lab partnering with LEGO to create Mindstorms, thereby turning learning science into hands-on, programmable tools used by students worldwide. Outside the sciences, Ed Catmull’s technical breakthroughs and John Lasseter’s storytelling acumen resulted in Pixar, whose films redefined an artform and continue to enthrall countless children and adults alike.
These are just a few reminders that purposeful alignment is a combination of complementarity and shared vision. When aims and values converge, differences become strengths; when they diverge, even the most gifted teams wander in circles.
Higher education finds itself at an inflection point as universities face intensifying pressure to not just expand their online offerings but evolve them. Learners expect flexible pathways to knowledge. Employers seek continuous and convenient upskilling. And technology catapults us towards a heady proliferation of possible futures. No institution can meet these demands alone.
Partnerships in digital learning allow institutions to combine their deep academic and pedagogical expertise with specialised technological capabilities. But such partnerships work best when institutions and their digital partners are meaningfully aligned. This allows both partners to steer transformation with coherence and shared intent.
What an aligned partnership really means
Alignment, in its simplest form, is what happens when two organisations discover that they are animated by the same underlying purpose. Not identical functions or even similar cultures, but a shared conviction about the why behind the work. When passion, purpose, and perspective converge, the partnership becomes a joint endeavour whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Crucially, alignment does not demand parity of power or responsibility. It demands only that each partner understands and values the role the other plays in a shared endeavour. When this appreciation is present, differences become complementary.
In this sense, alignment is the quiet, often invisible architecture that allows two organisations to accomplish together what either could hardly imagine alone. It is far more powerful than operating separately, or from having a purely transactional relationship.
The impact of aligned partnerships in higher education
Across the education sector, a clear pattern has emerged: learners increasingly expect the personalised, flexible learning experiences that online learning can provide. And universities have heeded the call. As of 2025, more than 60% of global higher education institutions offer some form of online programme. This dramatic expansion in digital offerings is reflected in student participation: nearly half of all students globally (around 49%) had engaged in some form of online learning by 2022.
Yet the expansion of digital learning brings with it an uncomfortable truth: not all online learning is equal. Covid sparked a Cambrian explosion of online learning, which has led to a proliferation of courses and platforms. Some are excellent, others merely functional, and a fair few that amount to little more than digitised pamphlets with a progress bar. The future will not reward volume. It will reward quality.
For institutions whose reputations have been forged over centuries, the stakes are even higher. When a university with a long intellectual lineage steps into the online space, it is extending its identity. Their learners expect the same intellectual calibre and sense of discovery that one might associate with lecture halls and seminars.
This requires partners who understand that online learning is an act of scholarly alchemy. It requires designers who grasp nuance, developers who understand pedagogy, and institutions willing to interrogate their own assumptions about what excellence looks like when removed from its physical setting.
However, research in organisational behaviour demonstrates that when one party controls budget or approval authority, the other often defaults to over-compliance or deference, and avoidance of disagreement (see Kipnis, Schmidt & Wilkinson’s classic work on upward influence, 1980). Psychology tells us that power differentials distort communication.
A truly aligned partnership is defined not so much by equality of power as by reciprocity of respect. It is entirely possible—indeed normal—for partners to hold asymmetrical roles. What matters is that each recognises the value the other contributes to the voyage in a shared direction.
What makes an effective higher education partnership?
If one were to distil the characteristics of effective partnerships into a short guide, several principles consistently emerge:
Co-design, not outsourcing
Partnerships thrive when academic and design teams jointly articulate goals, define learner profiles, and shape the pedagogical framework. Partners should be intentional about establishing shared design standards, such as quality rubrics, style guides, and build templates, so that both parties can adopt a shared vernacular to work in and improve over time
Mutual respect for expertise
Each partner must recognise the essential contribution of the other and avoid the trap of assuming disciplinary dominance.
Integrated teams and transparent workflows
Alignment is strengthened through iterative review cycles, open communication, honestly admitting and a shared commitment to quality.
Pedagogy first
Technology and multimedia add value only when deployed in service of learning outcomes.
Agility and adaptability
Effective partnerships remain responsive to unexpected challenges, shifting project needs, and emerging opportunities.
Shared success metrics
Completion rates matter, but so do accessibility, inclusivity, learner satisfaction, global reach, and alignment with institutional values.
These principles guide not only individual projects but the long-term health of collaborative ecosystems in higher education.
A shared vision of digital learning
Alignment transforms the texture of the work. Instead of cautious adherence to contractual outputs, teams begin to operate with a sense of shared ambition. They take prudent risks and invest emotionally in outcomes. They pursue solutions that may be unconventional but are deeply considered.
As research on team effectiveness has long suggested, the highest-performing teams are not those that simply complete tasks, but those that experience the work as intrinsically meaningful. The good news is that it is easy to find that meaning in education. We are improving the world, one mind at a time. Our industry should be a fertile ground for aligned partnerships.
Alignment is also economically beneficial. Timelines shorten as revisions diminish, decision-making accelerates, and the hidden costs of miscommunication evaporate. In higher education—where every hour, every pound, and every reputational signal matters—alignment becomes a form of fiscal stewardship. It is, in many ways, an antidote to the corrosive logic of the service economy, reframing partnership as shared endeavour rather than transactional exchange.
A shared vision of digital learning makes this reframing possible. The transformation of knowledge into pedagogy, and pedagogy into meaningful digital experience, requires a rare and sustained combination of academic and design expertise. At their best, aligned partnerships:
- Expand access to high-quality learning beyond geography, schedule, and circumstance.
- Translate complexity into structured, inclusive learning journeys.
- Preserve academic values while scaling to global learner cohorts.
- Strengthen institutional capacity to respond to socio-economic change and technological advance.
- Support lifelong learning in areas such as wellbeing, sustainability, leadership, and conflict management.
If the first decades of online learning were defined by scale, the next will be defined by alignment. The future will belong to institutions willing to extend their traditions into uncharted digital frontiers—alongside partners who respect their values and share their mission.
When alignment is present, the relationship becomes a space where each partner can say:
“We are here to do something worth doing, something that neither of us could accomplish alone, and where we are each supporting each other’s objectives.”
Sources
Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The culture factor. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/01/the-culture-factor
International Association of Universities. (2024). Global survey on digital transformation in higher education. https://www.iau-aiu.net/Global-surveys-on-Internationalization
Kipnis, D., Schmidt, S. M., & Wilkinson, I. (1980). Intraorganizational influence tactics: Explorations in getting one’s way. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65(4), 440–452. https://doi.org/10.2307/255807
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2023). Global participation in online and distance education. http://uis.unesco.org/
