4 Universities Band Together to Share and Protect Digital Resources - Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The online-education boom has made technology vendors powerful. So powerful, in fact, that some university officials say it’s getting harder and harder to update their technology without placing themselves under the sway of outside companies. Now four major research universities are trying to promote strength in numbers. They are creating a consortium, called Unizin, that they hope will help member institutions innovate on their own terms. The four institutions are Colorado State University, Indiana University, the University of Florida, and the University of Michigan. Unizin will negotiate contracts with technology vendors for products and services that many universities already buy individually. But instead of implementing the technologies locally, member institutions will get a set of “sewn-together services” from Unizin in exchange for dues, says Bradley C. Wheeler, vice president for information technology at Indiana. http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/4-universities-band-together-to-share-and-protect-digital-resources/53269