One of America's largest for-profit education organisations plans a dramatic expansion of its operations by linking up with universities across Asia and Europe.
The announcement by Kaplan follows its purchase last week of the Singapore-based Asia Pacific Management Institute (APMI).
The institute was founded in 1988 as a higher education provider for undergraduate and postgraduate students, executives and managers in Asia.
It has 1,300 Hong Kong managers and executives enrolled in its programmes, with another 1,300 in Singapore, Australia and other parts of Asia while also running authorised learning centres in major mainland cities.
Higher education institutions involved with APMI include the University of South Australia, La Trobe and Monash universities in Melbourne, Tsinghua University in Beijing, National University of Ireland, Britain's University of Hull and Southern Illinois University.
The South Australian university is a major partner with APMI which distributes 14 of its degrees in Singapore, five in Hong Kong and two in Taiwan.
Kaplan is a US$1.1 billion a year education services provider offering higher education, professional training and test preparation, plus services for primary schools and after-school learning programmes.