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With the pace of technological change increasing and growing pressures on higher education, digital transformation has never been more important. Wherever you are on your digital transformation journey, these resources will help you make real progress.
If your university plans to remain relevant and resilient, then some form of digital transformation is inevitable. The question is, will digital transformation happen to you, or will you make digital transformation happen? Proactive universities will not only survive shifts in the higher education landscape, but flourish as a result of them.
Across much of the world, universities face serious challenges like declining student enrollments, shortfalls in public funding and the need to assimilate AI and other emerging technologies. Responses vary, but what is often missing is enterprise-level strategy, planning, and support. Learn how best-in-class digital transformation is a key component of any institutional response to the current social and economic conditions.
A recurrent challenge with digital transformation programs is knowing where you are, so you can benchmark progress, avoid inefficiencies and communicate meaningfully with stakeholders. This is hard because the scale of the undertaking can make it difficult to obtain clear perspective, while the pace of operational and technological change is relentless. Moreover, “digital maturity” is not a storybook conclusion where your institution is definitively transformed, you are simply ready – but readiness is everything.
The Digital Transformation Conversation Starter introduces four digital maturity profiles to focus leadership conversations and support clearer decisions on institutional priorities. You can use it in executive meetings, strategy off-sites or cross-functional leadership sessions to:
Identify which profile best reflects your institution’s current state
Surface misalignment across teaching, research and operations
Challenge assumptions about progress and impact
Agree on a small number of institutional priorities for coordinated action
The Digital Transformation Conversation Starter introduces four digital maturity profiles to focus leadership conversations and support clearer decisions on institutional priorities. You can use it in executive meetings, strategy off-sites or cross-functional leadership sessions to:
Identify which profile best reflects your institution’s current state
Surface misalignment across teaching, research and operations
Challenge assumptions about progress and impact
Agree on a small number of institutional priorities for coordinated action
There are any number of reasons why a managed digital transformation process might stall – cultural resistance to change, a failure of leadership, a lack of sustained investment – while the poor quality data and fragmented legacy systems on which the program is focused are themselves a significant barrier to change. But there are ways out of this systemic inertia…
Universities need digital transformation because their existing infrastructure is a mess; however, universities cannot transform because their existing infrastructure is a mess. Academic leaders (and fans of Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22) will be all too familiar with this impasse. This article discusses possible ways forward, particularly in the area of research, advocating the use of a RIMS system to support disjointed technology frameworks and take control of data.
Digital transformation programs can provide the technological and cultural foundation for change that universities need, but what does this mean on the ground? This content examines the development of integrated platforms and processes across the main functional areas of the university, touching on areas like governance, digital literacy and cybersecurity. Focusing on development of an effective "build-plus-buy" strategy, there is guidance around vendor support, AI readiness and the emerging future of digital transformation.
Explore how universities can build a connected, future-ready digital ecosystem that supports research excellence, operational efficiency and improved student outcomes with interoperable Elsevier solutions.
