Information systems (IS) outsourcing is one aspect of outsourcing, whereservice or activities of IS are contracted out to the third party management toobtain a required result. The most outsourced information systems (IS)function of higher learning institutions is information technology (IT)infrastructure, application management, and E-learning. Beside the advantagesIS outsourcing brings , it faces risks and requires effective management fromthe outset of the outsourcing evaluation through the life of the contractualrelationship. The aim of the thesis was to study the risks associated with ISoutsourcing and the management of these risks within the context of privatehigher learning institutions in Ethiopia. The strategy of inquiry used is a casestudy strategy. For data collection, I interviewed ten individuals havingimportant roles in the IS outsourcing process such as chief information officer,Chief Network Officer Chief Software Development Officer and also users anddomain experts. The research employed a qualitative research method. For thisreason, the research result largely drawn from the analysis of the interviews.After analysing the interviews, an inductive qualitative research approach wasused to draw conclusions. A single case design and narrative approach wasused for analysing the interview. Finally findings revealed that even though theparticipants of the university understood what outsourcing IS is all about, theuniversity doesnot have documented and structured outsourcing strategyprogram. The study help also discovering the fact that there are no riskmanagement frameworks for IS outsourcing projects. IS outsourcing project ismanaged like any other system projects. In the private higher learninginstitution the achievements of service level agreement (SLA) requirementshave a great importance in the performance monitoring of the outsourced ISfunctions. The participation of users with any type of IS outsourcing project isvery high but the involvement of the top level management is unsatisfactory.