Outsourcing of online education to third-party providers, commonly known as online program managers (OPMs), has surged in the higher education sphere. While these partnerships are touted as opportunities to expand access and operational capacity, they often raise critical concerns around institutional control, quality assurance, student outcomes, data privacy, and regulatory compliance.
The Government Accountability Office reports that many institutions entrust various tasks to for-profit entities known as OPMs. These tasks can include student recruitment, advertising, admission assistance, student retention, and instruction. However, there is few, if any, oversight of such arrangements, and the U.S. Department of Education has not tracked which institutions are outsourcing to which companies. Consequently, students in numerous online degree programs are left vulnerable to potential risks associated with these contracts.
Join the Center for American Progress for an expert panel discussing the current challenges in monitoring and regulating outsourced online higher education and exploring promising practices and research findings related to quality assurance and equity.