October 9 marked the AIT Institute Forum held at the AIT Conference
Center Auditorium. The event attracted a large number of concerned
faculty, staff and students of the community.
During the Forum, Prof. Said Irandoust, AIT president, provided an
overview on the financial performance of the Institute, comparison
vis-à-vis the outcomes over the past 3 years, student enrolment trends
and the key elements of the AIT Strategy 2013. He also touched upon
some of the hot topics such as outsourcing, upgrading of AIT
facilities, performance evaluation and employee benefits, fundraising
and AIT Golden Jubilee preparations.
Among the issues raised, “outsourcing” was by far the most
contentious. Deliberations on the pros and cons was duly considered and
taken into account from lessons learned from outsourcing of the
institute's cafeteria. The rationale for outsourcing certain
units was further explained by the AIT president which inevitably
points to creating improvements and re-launching financially
sustainable products. The possible loss of AIT’s unique campus culture
and identity, long-term cost implications for students due to
outsourcing was also raised. The other issues discussed focused on the
number of public holidays, performance evaluation and benefits,
upgrading of AIT facilities, and effectiveness of the Golden Jubilee
Fundraising campaign.
Prof. Said Irandoust tackled the topic of outsourcing by first, a
comparison between the present day conditions with the institute's
situtation 20 or 30 years ago. In the changing landscape of higher
learning and competition in a regional and global context, major
challenges lie ahead for AIT, especially in ensuring its long-term
financial stability. A successful institution of higher learning must
be able to attract top students, international faculty and staff, and
have world-class laboratories and facilities. AIT’s current revenue
structure is to a significant degree based on student tuition, thus
creating a precarious financial situation that hinges primarily on
student enrollment and effectively prohibits long-term planning.
Therefore, it is important for AIT to find additional sources of
revenue to effectively impart its mandate by complementing the revenue
stream from teaching, by putting more efforts towards revenue
generation through new and innovative programs, research and services
such as training activities and consultancy. In addition to more
diversified revenue generation, the institute needs to develop a
culture of fund-raising, at all levels of its wide range of
activities.
Outsourcing is not the same as passing responsibility, and the major
reason must be to ensure that the institute's focus is redirected to
core activities. The non-core functions may be diverted to vendors
specializing in that particular function. As highlighted during the
Forum, AIT management is currently investigating outsourcing options
for some of the institute's non-core activities. Prof. Said Irandoust
stressed that though the functions may possibly be outsourced, the
responsibiity of each unit remains solely AIT's.
If the outsourcing of the non-core units is deemed the best option,
AIT will require the outsourcing companies to offer positions to all of
affected employees. The institute will also comply with all the
necessary regulations once the scheme is implemented. It must be noted
that, all members of the community, in particular those who might be
affected will be duly consulted, and this matter handled in a very
comprehensive and thorough manner.
