U.S. colleges and universities are challenged to contain and even reduce technology costs while at the same time responding to the expectations of the “New Millennial Generation” to upgrade administrative systems, support online course management and provide as many online services as possible. Prospective college students searching for the right college expect to be able to register online, find information about academic programs and services on the Web, communicate with faculty and admissions counselors electronically and even apply for and receive financial aid online. Once enrolled, this Internet-savvy generation expects to check grades, access a myriad of courses and monitor their financial and personal records online.

Although these expectations are reasonable, online services are not simple or inexpensive. Colleges must offer e-services to remain attractive and competitive, but they are hard pressed to maintain current hardware and software and guarantee the required range of professional expertise needed to install and support these services. Brian Hawkins, president of EDUCAUSE, makes the controversial case for new models in delivering higher education services:

Drexel has been at the forefront of higher education IT organizational and service transformation since 1996, when Drexel’s President Constantine Papadakis first told The Philadelphia Inquirer of a plan to provide IT support to other colleges and universities via an application service provider (ASP) model based on the concept of mutual strategic collaboration. An ASP provides application
access (e.g., e-mail) over the Internet to other institutions. ASP arrangements enable organizations to have access to essential applications and services without the expense and burden of owning and operating the assets required to run those applications. Business and industry have long recognized the value and efficiencies of ASP arrangements and are increasingly entering into contractual or “backdoor” IT application outsourcing relationships (e.g., dotcoms such as Expedia, Orbitz, Staples or Amazon). The Gartner Group estimates that by 2010 the market share of IT utility providers will be 29% of the total IT services market.According to the Harvard Business Review,“Companies will in the future buy their information technologies as services provided over the Internet rather than owning their own hardware and software.”

The implications for higher education are evident, because a majority of the more than 3,500 colleges and universities in the United States have fewer than 2,000 students. These schools cannot afford to make costly, recurring investments.They frequently cannot afford to upgrade equipment, acquire expensive academic and administrative software or provide the staff necessary to support IT systems. Maintaining the wide scope of professional skills necessary to administer servers, manage complex databases, undertake Web development and provide training and support to users is a constant, often losing, battle. Partnerships allow colleges to access the quality and breadth of a comprehensive research university’s IT services.

Drexel’s model is straightforward and based on institutional “choice,” normally at the level of the president or board of trustees. Drexel and the partnering institution do not attempt to reach a consensus about issues, directions, solutions or strategies, but rather to identify a service or problem that needs attention.Drexel explains its solution, allows the other college’s leadership to decide if the approach will work for them and, if so, proceeds with implementation as quickly as possible.The partnership does not change the culture, values or vision of partnering institutions.However, it does change the way“things get done.” Drexel, in effect, becomes the infrastructure for partner schools and provides the model for back office business practice and process management.

For example, when Cabrini College (where Drexel was already providing e-mail, WebCT course management, Web hosting, help desk and other services) was deciding whether to upgrade its administrative system or obtain a new one, the natural question was whether Cabrini could leverage the ASP model in the administrative area: finance, purchasing, human resources, payroll and student information. Cabrini’s president, Antoinette Iadarola, appointed a college-wide committee to investigate possible providers. Presentations were made by a number of commercial third parties, but in light of Cabrini’s positive experience with Drexel on the academic side, the committee unanimously chose Drexel to provide administrative services and applications. Cabrini made changes to its business practices, and Drexel implemented the complete SunGard SCT Banner administrative system in less than a year.

Today, Drexel provides services ranging from IT leadership, staffing and strategy to supplying course management, SAP academic software applications and complete corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) services.Drexel also provides Internet2 research network connectivity to the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Drexel’s IT services are present at 40 educational institutions in one way or another.Drexel provides SunGard SCT Banner ERP services to Cabrini and currently is implementing them at Medaille College in Buffalo, N.Y. Drexel provides the WebCT course management application to schools in our region including Cabrini, Neumann College, Rosemont College, and Wilkes University, as well as Medaille and Cumberland University in Tennessee.Drexel’s provision of SAP software for academic use includes Arcadia University, Bentley University,Bryant College, Clark Atlanta University, Clarkson University, Edinboro University, Georgetown University, Georgia Southern University, Indiana University, Lincoln University, the University of Maryland Salisbury, University of North Carolina Greensboro, the University of North Dakota, the University of Texas at El Paso,William Patterson University, and SAP education in the United Kingdom and Russia.

The ASP model Drexel has developed can and should be replicated by other universities. Although support of ERP administrative applications is complex, the provision of other services is much less complicated and can provide immediate and significant benefits. Projects such as increased Web development and usage, e-mail, policy and procedure development, online course development, faculty and staff training, implementation of virus protection and improving customer relations and support through help desk functions can be implemented quickly and easily and
improve both responsiveness and the user experience at the partner school. This instills the trust, confidence and internal support required to undertake more complex projects such as student and financial administrative services.

A Look to the Future
The partnerships Drexel has established reflect what major technology companies are doing across the globe.The value added for Drexel’s partners is that they have access to world class IT services and resources and avoid the daunting costs and requirements of managing such assets. Colleges with limited resources will increasingly be compelled to examine creative, efficient ways to manage in a world of growing technological complexity. Although commercial partners are available, the cost of those relationships is often prohibitive, and agreements can be binding for a long term. A partnership with another college or university has the advantage of a basis in trust, shared commitment and understanding of higher education’s mission, goals and challenges. Services can be provided more economically for everyone involved under nonprofit partnerships.
The benefits for both sides of the partnership range from clearly defined and anticipated to unexpected and far-reaching.

The opportunity is clear. Drexel has shown that new models for the delivery of IT services can work—it is up to other leading universities to step forward.

Notes
1. Steve Jones, The Internet Goes to College: How Students Are Living in the Future, Philadelphia: Pew Internet & American Life Project, Pew Charitable Trusts, September 2002.
2. Brian L. Hawkins,“We’ve Got to Work Collaboratively,” EDUCAUSE Review, January/February 2005.
3. Howard Goodman,“Drexel Anoints 11th President: Constantine Papadakis Vowed to Go Beyond ‘Chalk and a Blackboard,’” The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 4, 1996, p B2.
4. John Hagel and John Seely Brown,“Your Next IT Strategy,” Harvard Business Review, October 2001.

For more information, please contact:
John A. Bielec, Ph.D.
Vice President for Information Resources and Technology and CIO
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215-895-1434
jbielec@drexel.edu

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