Though we declined his request, it did set the wheels in motion for outsourcing some parts of our program, including marketing development, website design but not management and some courseware development.
The decision to outsource part of your continuing education program is one that should not be taken lightly, and all the aspects — and pitfalls — should be explored. Also keep in mind the end goal of your program; to offer education to your community as an extension of your institution. Starting with the end in mind should help keep you on track for successful partnerships.
The areas to keep in-house or outsource come up for discussion in management meetings every few years. Here are some of the areas that are discussed most often, and the rationalization for keeping those areas in-house or outsourcing them (as the case may be). The list starts with areas I believe should be kept in-house and works towards areas that I think can be logically outsourced:
Academic Classes and Programs
At the core of a continuing education department are the programs offered; the “product” for our “customers” in business-speak. Outsourcing your key product is risky idea. Keep it in-house.
Registration, Advising and Customer Service
The service you provide your customers is a key aspect of your brand identity. This identity is itself a key aspect of why students choose your institution over other online or local options.
Keeping your levels of service and institutional knowledge with advising in-house is a good idea. In some cases, having in-house advising can help steer students to other institutional resources; something an outsourced provider might not know to do.
Faculty
The face in front of the classroom — or on the screen if online (see below) — is part of your product. Using traditional university faculty, dedicated continuing education instructors, adjunct continuing education instructors or outsourced instructors from training brokers are the typical solutions.
Most programs use a mix of all four solutions. Your institution’s customs and policies, along with community resources and needs, often dictate the degree to which faculty services are outsourced.
Courseware Development and Books
Developing the right courses for your community is a core aspect of your job as a continuing education leader. Writing the textbooks or course materials is not. That is something best left to the experts in the field.
Sometimes the best option is a commercial or academic textbook. Sometimes your program of study will have to match national standards for certifications or licensure. Sometimes, of course, a localized need is being met and having your instructor write a guide is the best solution. Each program of study is different; adjust accordingly.
Marketing
Institutions vary widely on marketing; some outsource all while others outsource nothing. A happy medium I’ve found is keeping the development and maintenance of marketing resources in-house, while using consultants for certain campaign elements and media buys.
The overall message of your marketing should align with your institutional message, and an outsourced provider isn’t as connected to the institution as a continuing education leader.
Website and Social Media
The website design and content flow is often better left to the experts and should be refreshed every 18 months to three years. Day-to-day updates, though, can be done in-house.
Social media campaigns and account development can be outsourced, while the day-to-day execution of updating social media should be done in-house.
For both the website and social media, be sure to keep the message on target with your overall marketing plan.
Online Education
Given the constant change in this arena, continuing education units commonly outsource their online education to a third party, often for a cut of registration fees. Face-to-face programming, of course, remains the purview of the institution.
Proposals that have come across my desk over the years have ranged from 10-40 percent of the total revenue cut to be returned to the host institution, with full university branding being used on the outsourced provider’s website.
Some proposals provide nothing more than a URL and account creation for your students, while others include marketing support, customer service, tutoring and related services. I expect this area to change, but keep in mind the “Academic Classes and Programs” area above when outsourcing your educational offerings.
Online Registration
Separate from customer service is online registration. Building an online registration system that is secure, robust and fully functional is something vendors in the continuing education space have already done.
Don’t waste your precious staff time reinventing something that is already available. Plus the credit card and security challenges are nearly a full time job to keep up with. Pay the small fee and outsource this, as long as it adheres to any privacy policies your institution might have in place.
Bookkeeping and Financials
Some institutions have centralized finance and accounting, and all programs must use the central office for policy or legal reasons. If this is not the case at your institution, though, having an expert in the field handle your bookkeeping and tax issues allows you to focus on your continuing education program and community.
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