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

  • Illinois State University Breaks Ground on College of Fine Arts Transformation

    Illinois State University in Normal, Ill., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts transformation project, according to university news. The series of new constructions and renovations will upgrade spaces in Centennial East, the Center for the Visual Arts, and the Center for the Performing Arts, as well as replace the existing Centennial West facility with a new Commons Building.

  • restroom sinks

    CSU Dominguez Hills Standardizes Plumbing to Improve Restroom Maintenance and Efficiency

    At California State University, Dominguez Hills, facilities leaders have taken steps to standardize restroom fixtures as part of a broader effort to improve maintenance efficiency and control long-term costs.

  • New Arizona Fine Arts School Reaches Construction Milestone

    Construction of the new Hilltop School for the Arts and Theater in Litchfield Park, Ariz., recently hit a significant milestone, according to a news release. The Agua Fria High School District held a beam-signing ceremony to celebrate the building’s topping out, or the placement of its last structural beam.

  • 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.