The University of Oklahoma (OU) manages more than 50 online degree programs serving over 3,500 students through OU Educational Services (OUES), a Board-approved nonprofit it created to operate online program enrollment. Their growth, and move toward full ownership, were built on OU’s partnership with Human Capital Education. Drawing on a deep understanding of the University of Oklahoma and of the business of online education, Human Capital built and scaled the operation behind OU’s online programs, then helped the university put in place the organization, financial infrastructure, and technology foundation it needed to run that operation itself. Today, Human Capital continues to support OUES and provides strategic guidance as the school enters a new phase of online program growth.
“From the beginning, our job was to understand OU as well as we understood online education. Scale only works when it’s built on an institution’s own strengths, and OU had a lot to build on.”
— Justin McMorrow, CEO, Human Capital Education
Human Capital Education and the University of Oklahoma team built a long-term strategic plan for growth and maturity with three deliberate phases that stretched over more than a decade
2012–2018: Pilot to portfolio. The first six years were about proving the model of online program growth. A single pilot program grew into a multi-program portfolio, with OU faculty owning the curriculum and Human Capital providing day-to-day operational support.
2018–2024: Build-Operate-Transfer. In 2018, OU and Human Capital restructured the relationship around a new goal: transferring knowledge to the university. Faculty stayed focused on curriculum while the partner built scalable processes for marketing, admissions, and student support. Shared dashboards and integrated support systems kept retention steady at around 81%. Over this period, Human Capital’s team began embedding OU staff directly in daily operations so they would be ready to run them on their own.
2024–present: OU Educational Services. In 2024, OU created OUES, a Board-approved nonprofit, to run its online operations internally. By Fall 2025, OUES was managing marketing, online enrollment management, and student success directly. Meanwhile, Human Capital’s role switched from daily operations management to strategic advisory for leadership.
The University of Oklahoma, through OUES, continues to be one of the most successful online operations in the country. The school now manages more than 50 online degree programs in fields ranging from business and data science to liberal studies and aerospace and defense. Online enrollment grew tenfold under the partnership with Human Capital. Most important, students achieve success; with retention averages around 81%, and several programs maintaining retention averages above 90%. OU now owns the infrastructure and the revenue behind its online program growth, and it decides for itself where its online portfolio goes next.
The university engaged Human Capital’s full suite of solutions to tackle its enrollment challenges and revitalize program growth. With Human Capital’s expertise and advanced tools, the university benefited from strategic support across multiple areas.
Knowledge transfer was part of the plan from the start. The transition plan’s first stage was designed as a training period for OU staff, built on shared trust and open communication. The handoff to OUES was the outcome the partnership had been building toward for years.
Keeping the people kept the knowledge. By bringing roughly 95% of the outsourced staff into OUES, OU held on to years of institutional knowledge. Students and faculty kept working with the same people, which is why the transition went unnoticed on their end.
Academic control never left the university. OU governed its programs throughout the partnership. Human Capital provided marketing and enrollment growth services and strategic support, so there was no academic authority to transfer back to OU.
The details were planned well in advance. HR, technology, and student communications were all mapped out long before OUES launched. The carefully crafted program management transition plan was fully supported throughout and was designed to ensure a smooth transition.
“Our role at OU looks very different today than it did in 2012, and that’s how it should be. A good partner changes shape as the institution grows, and OU has grown into an operation we’re proud to support.”
— Justin McMorrow, CEO, Human Capital Education
Map your own path from outsourcing to ownership. Schedule a conversation with our online education strategy team.
