[dentemple]

Seems like an overly negative take. I see no reason not to take the article at face-value here, namely, that MIT & Harvard saw the growing gap between for-profit and not-for-profit online education--and decided to take steps ensure that the latter doesn't fall behind.

It's also pointed out in the article that MIT & Harvard will be investing money into a new non-profit to explore the "next generation" of online learning, which is literally the opposite of "[refocusing] on in-person education", as you hypothesize.