Academics speak out about impact of outsourced courses

The Guardian Australia 17 March 2023

Academic staff at multiple universities in Australia have spoken out about the outsourcing of courses to for-profit providers, saying it has led to “distressing” workloads, poor quality standards and aggressive marketing, write Caitlin Cassidy and Ben Smee for The Guardian Australia.

“Some staff are too scared and clinging to their jobs to share [their] stories,” one academic told The Guardian Australia.

Australian universities now offer more than 850 courses, mostly online postgraduate diplomas or masters degrees, where the course management, administration and marketing is contracted out to third-party online programme management companies, or OPMs.
Full report on The Guardian Australia site

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