‘Universally hated’: academics speak out on outsourced university courses

Some Australian university staff are ‘too scared and clinging to their jobs’ to speak out about outsourced online courses, one academic has said. Photograph: Tommaso Altamura/Getty Images/EyeEm

Academic staff at multiple universities 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.

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