Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

When You're Not A Fan (of Outsourcing)

  • 05/01/17

While many college and university administrators have good experiences with outsourcing (explaining why they keep doing it and increasing the number of outsourced services), not everyone is a fan. There are two ways of measuring success: by satisfaction and business outcomes.

“Understanding that this is subjective,” says Nick Owen, expert in digital and IT transformation and member of New York-based PA Consulting Group’s management team. “I’d say the satisfaction statistic is probably 50-50, meaning 50 percent of clients believe they have had their objectives fulfilled, and 50 percent have not. And I’d say that, regarding business outcomes, probably 70 percent of clients are satisfied and 30 percent have had unintended outcomes.”

For those of you who are not outsourcing fans, check out Faculty Forward Network (FFN, facultyforwardnetwork.org). According to the website, “The FFN is an activist faculty organization that improves faculty working conditions, supports increased public investment in instruction and research, and is fighting the corporatization of higher education.”

The organization has a toolkit to help you learn more and raise awareness regarding subcontracting or outsourcing practices on your campus. The “toolkit includes:

  1. Tools for researching if your college of university is subcontracting or outsourcing services.
  2. A sample Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting copies of agreements with subcontractors.
  3. An action plan for concerned community activists to prevent or call into question any negative outsourcing or subcontracting agreements.
  4. A sample letter to the board of trustees you can use to request they do not agree to subcontracting or outsourcing agreements, or rescind existing agreements.”

Find the toolkit at: facultyforwardnetwork.org.

Another resource to check out is a white paper titled “Issues and Concerns in the Privatization and Outsourcing of Campus Services in Higher Education,” which can be found at ncspe.tc.columbia.edu/working-papers/OP10.pdf.

The paper is published by National Center for the Study of Privatization of Education (ncspe.tc.columbia.edu), which “provides nonpartisan documentation and analysis of privatization in education. We conduct research, host conferences, and post working papers. Our topics range from preschool to tertiary education, both at home and abroad.”

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • How Proactive Maintenance Can Transform Athletic Facilities into Strategic Assets for College Sports

    College athletics is entering one of the most transformative periods in its history. With NIL reshaping financial models and competitive expectations, athletic departments across the country are being asked to do more than ever with increasingly constrained resources.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • Designing Third Spaces That Do What AI Can't

    In 2026, education is evolving faster than ever. With AI reshaping everything from lesson planning to personalized instruction, schools and universities are turning their attention to what AI can’t replicate: spaces that foster collaboration, community, and creativity.

  • Academy of Classical Education Breaks Ground in Louisiana

    Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) recently announced the groundbreaking of a new public charter school in Covington, La., according to a news release. The Academy of Classical Education at Covington will enroll students in grades K–8 and is scheduled for completion in August 2026, just in time for the new school year.