This blog entry by my colleague, Dr. Keith Hampson, talks about the very wary feelings that U.K. Professor Emeritus Gillian Evans has for education consultants. My response: OUCH!
I don't know what kind of experience Dr. Evans has had with education consultants. My own has been quite positive. I guess it depends on who the consultant is, right? I tend to bring in former academic management types to help us and our clients.
We currently call upon a fomer college president, a former VP Academic, a fomer departmental chair and a currently serving Assistant Dean of CE to help us .... depending on the work that needs to be done. This particular group have their PhD's from highly regarded universities in the U.S. and have served in various academic management positions in well-ranked and top-ranked colleges and universities in the U.S. I trust from their CV's that they know what they are talking about. Otherwise, I wouldn't put my name on it and let them represent my company. Likewise, they wouldn't work with us if they thought the project would damage their hard-earned reputations.
Maybe the lesson is thus: Get good people to help you as education consultants. I know I have and the experience has been both educational for me and successful for our clients.