The Outsourcing Option on Campuses Everywhere

               An article EduExec, a publication for executives in education systems, addressed the issue of outsourcing. Even though it was written in 2005 and today’s outsourcing methods have probably changed, I think it held some valuable advice for other universities. It didn’t approach it from a certain stance as for outsourcing or against outsourcing, but rather to point out the benefits and drawbacks. They interviewed Margaret Plympton from Lehigh University; she is the vice President for financial and administration. She has a lot of experience with outsourcing, seeing as how Lehigh has been outsourcing its food service for the past 62 years.

               First off, she points out that there are certain things that a university is specifically good at. These things should not be looked at to outsource; it is much easier and beneficial to the school to manage the task internally. In many cases it is these tasks that define the university. For example, if education and research is outsourced, it is no longer much of a university. Even a decision to just outsource food services in a college that prides itself on its students’ environment could cause opposition.

               She also brings up that management is much easier to find when outsourcing. Once an employee reaches the top of their department or service they are much more likely to search for other jobs than to stay. In bigger companies they are in control of the staff and management is their problem.

               Lastly she brings up the point that outsourcing might not be as beneficial as the university might think. The company’s goals are not to sell their product at affordable prices or to improve the student’s experience, but instead to boost profit margins to attract investors. Taxes are also an issue that will boost a company’s prices, while university owned bookstores wouldn’t have to deal with this.

               These are some very good points brought up by a veteran in the field of college economics. I hope that the University of Kentucky weighed these options when deciding to outsource our food service. I guess we’ll find out over the next several years if this was a beneficial decision.


"Is Outsourcing An Option?: Lessons From Lehigh University." Edutech Report 21.9 (2005): 1-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.