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5/1/2007
Independent College Enterprise consortium (other ICE schools are largely West Virginia institutions) is that “We couldn’t find anybody in our region who would do it with us,” says Nichols President Debra Townsley. Other colleges in her region objected to the fact that the shared technology wouldn’t necessarily be housed on campus (the ICE ERP system, along with consortium staff, is located on the University of Charleston campus). However, multinational corporations commonly locate hardware and software off-site, Townsley points out.The schools in her region also exhibited a tendency to defer the software-sharing decision to their IT departments. “That can be fatal,” she warns, pointing to the fact that the IT department isn’t where such an institutionally strategic judgment should be made. Instead, she urges, push the consortium issue up the rungs to the president’s office, since that’s where such a far-reaching initiative needs to originate. The president, Townsley explains, “has the macro view and, additionally, can overcome any turf issues.”
As for the “loss-of-control” issue, Townsley claims it simply hasn’t been one for her institution. Software-sharing arrangements (AKA time-shares) “have been around for decades in corporations,” she points out. “It’s just not a model higher ed has been familiar with.”
Alderson-Broaddus College (WV) President Steve Markwood agrees with Welch that “selling” the board of trustees is best approached by pointing out dollar savings. He convinced his own institution’s trustees of the wisdom of forming the ICE coalition and sharing a Datatel ERP system by focusing not only on the initial expense, but on future set-aside costs. Regarding the ERP system, he told the board that “Every time we buy a piece of software, every time we buy a piece of hardware, every time we decide to upgrade, that [cost] will be shared.” In the five years that his institution has been a member of the coalition, Markwood estimates the college has saved “in excess of $300,000,” in addition to the $650,000-plus savings incurred by sharing the original purchase price of the ERP system—not incidental savings for an 800-student college.
The colleges share both course content and instructors. But although the consortium’s staff, located throughout the state, coordinates the member schools’ online programs, Rheinschmidt explains, ICCOC does not hire instructors. (Because the colleges in the consortium offer the online degrees, each school serves as the employer of record for its online instructors.) Online courses across the state are filled with prospective students through an agreedupon formula in which priority is given to the college originating the course. It’s an efficient model that populates courses well, regardless of which school is offering them and where they are being offered, Rheinschmidt says. It allows small, rural colleges to offer courses they couldn’t fill otherwise.
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