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204 - Outside Work-Program Labs

Responsible Office:   Academic Affairs
Responsible Officer:  Vice President of Academic Affairs
Related Minnesota State Board Policy:  Minnesota State Policy 7.6 and Procedure 7.6.1 and 7.6.2

 

PART 1.  POLICY

The College endorses and supports shop/lab activities for students that involve "outside" or "live" customer work when these arrangements will give students training opportunities and skills development that are substantiated by the program course syllabi. 

PART 2.  PROCEDURE

Instructional programs may offer products and/or services resulting from part of an educational program. This includes shop/lab activities that involve "outside" or "live" customer work when these arrangements provide students training opportunities and skill development that are substantiated by the program learning outcomes and included in course syllabi. 

  • Allowable competitive activities: all activities that compete with the private sector or other governmental units must be aligned to the instructional, research, or public service mission and must meet one of the following criteria:
  • Economic efficiency:  Economic efficiency implies that the college or university resources can be made available to the broader community at relatively little additional cost to the college or university. 
  • Unavailability: The product or service is unavailable elsewhere in the community. Unavailability may be defined in terms of quality or quantity of the product or service. 
  • Convenience: Providing the product or service is a major convenience to the campus community including students, faculty, staff and other members of the public participating in institutional activities. 
  • Instructional Mission: Providing the good or service is integral to the college's or university's instructional mission. This includes goods and services that are sold to students, staff and the general public provided by students participating in instructional programs. 
  • Quality. Offering the product or service is of significant importance to maintaining the quality of the institution. Most crucial to maintenance of quality are efforts which impact positively on student, faculty and staff recruitment and retention. 

Guidelines: Outside Work-Program 

All programs utilizing "outside" or "live" work must adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Must submit a written procedure to the President of President's designee for approval.
  • Products and/or services must be made available to the general public, student, and college employees
  • Products and services must be self-financing to the extent practicable; institutional dollars should not be used to subsidize products or services within reason
  • Programs must consider carefully competition with local, private sector businesses and how to manage concerns of affected private businesses with good faith, and keep services closely aligned to the instructional and public service mission of the college. 
  • Accounting activities will adhere to the accounting and financial management systems of the college. 
  • All procedures will be made available in the respective shops and at the college information desk.

 

Approved: April 28, 1997
Revised: February 15, 2000; June 30, 2004; September 29, 2008, April 2021