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Digital Transformation in Higher Education:

Emerging Technologies
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Problems related to Digital Transformation in Higher Educational Institutions

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are experiencing a lot of strain these days because of the
intense competition for talent on a worldwide basis, shifting demographics, limitations on
monetary asset accessibility, increased labor marketplace requirements, as well as rising student
standards for creative education, instruction, investigation, and leadership (Bonfield et al., 2020).
HEIs are utilizing electronic transition techniques to establish innovative electronic models
concurrently with their present processes, to better "on what basis" they conduct their present
duties, to develop whole innovative digital frameworks, or simply to totally digitize their present
activities in order to alleviate several of such constraints (Ali, 2020).

Digital Transformation in HE (Source: Benavides et al., 2020)

Regardless of the approach taken for digital evolution, HEIs can run into several difficulties.
Developing a plan of action for the digital revolution is one of the biggest obstacles. Higher
education institutions (HEIs) require a plan of action which enables their organization in its
entirety to work together to achieve digital projects (Fernández et al., 2023). Effective
management and a specialized staff capable of boldly outlining and carrying out their strategies
are essential for success (Benavides et al., 2020). The group along with partners are going to be
more committed to and participating in the technological transition approach if there is an
unambiguous goal.
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All partners' lack of knowledge about technology constitutes a significant additional problem.
Higher learning undergraduates now include a wider age range of individuals than merely those
in their 18 to 25s (Saarikko, Westergren and Blomquist, 2020). Rather, the age gap is closing,
with younger generations often possessing greater digital proficiency than their predecessors.
Moreover, despite the fact that HEIs are by definition quite technologically proficient as well as
fluid, their many audiences—students, former students, professors, management, families,
sectors, as well as the community, amongst others—have diverse cultures and utilize
technological advances in numerous manners.
The capacity of these many partners to adopt novel innovations and utilize them effectively is a
critical component of any successful technological approach.
Considering the pupils' evolving desires and requirements represents the third problem. Learners
are calling for elements like online courses of study, unfettered access around the clock to every
data and amenities across multiple mediums, including the digitalization of organizational
procedures to enhance the "fundamentals" of their education. Enhancing the learner encounters,
which constitutes one of the primary forces behind digital transformation, requires selecting the
appropriate digital strategy that satisfies their demands (Rapanta et al., 2021).
The fourth difficulty has to do with higher education institutions' methodologies along with
budgetary limitations. Because emerging innovations are sometimes costly, their widespread use
could be hampered by the current economic challenges that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
confront. However, since the availability of these innovations is restricted or since their
maturation degree continues to be not optimal, HEIs might not possess what they require for a
particular approach. Therefore, in order for an online plan to be implemented successfully, it is
imperative to make sure the Institution has the means required to do so (Benavides et al., 2020).
As technological advances become more widely used and all things become more connected,
there are more safety, legality, confidentiality, as well as regulatory problems.
While digitizing data and automating company operations can make higher education institutions
more agile, they also greatly raise cybersecurity threats and hazards (O’Dea and Stern, 2022).
Lastly, HEIs have adopted various strategies and implemented various digital projects as a result
of the focus placed on technological transition. An prevalent issue in technological approaches
includes the tendency to execute online endeavors in isolation or using a technology-focused
strategy, leading to financial rivalry and consequent bottlenecks and disputes. Thus, executing
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digital projects in a coordinated manner is quite difficult and remains only possible with a
management structure in place (Benavides et al., 2020).
It is well acknowledged that higher education institutions, like any other contemporary
organization, must have technological strategies in place in order to accomplish their goals
(Nadkarni and Prügl, 2020). Higher education institutions face tremendous strain at the moment
to offer business participants fresh and cutting-edge technological amenities. Because of this,
higher education institutions need to start taking a comprehensive approach to technology and
change by implementing technological concepts in all aspects of their operations, including the
way they generate their primary goal and run internal procedures. This, in the privilege of
viewpoints, is possible only by utilizing a structure which gives higher education institutions the
ability to handle all technological activities and methods in a thoroughly unified as well as
comprehensive manner (Nadkarni and Prügl, 2020).

Digital Transformation in HEIs (Source: Benavides et al., 2020)

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Solutions related to Digital Transformation in Higher Educational Institutions

The learners of today put the most stress on colleges to adapt since they want an instantaneous,
adaptable, as well as personalized learning environment. The academic engagement needs to be
at the center of the institution's strategy (Manita et al., 2020). Learners remain the primary
consumers of digital evolution, with technologies serving as a mere instrument. According to
94% of the individuals surveyed, satisfying educational requests comes in second place, with
84% believing that enhancing the learning experiences remains a particularly significant result of
the digital shift. Satisfied learners serve as the institution's greatest ambassadors. The objective
of higher education's technological revolution is to develop innovative methods for delivering
user-focused solutions. If an educational institution uses technology to understand the
requirements and behavior of its investigators, employees, and learners and subsequently tailor
its offerings accordingly, it may remain relevant (Li, 2020).
As a result, technological alteration involves a complete organizational modification, the
development of a fresh company structure, a complete reworking of the former management
approach, and a fresh management strategy that is motivated by the modifications. The outcome
of the digitization process includes the ability to provide novel characteristics and allow fresh
procedures via the clever combination of technological innovations, procedures, and
competencies as well as modifications in a business's functioning, organizational, and cultural
aspects (Kraus et al., 2021). The objective is to establish the proposition's benefits in an attempt
that goes past technological innovation in order to strategically affect society, provide
advantages to all parties involved, and change in a calculated approach. The method of
developing an innovative planned business structure for the company with the newest digital
technology that adds significant advantage for all partners is known as the "digital revolution"
(García-Morales, Garrido-Moreno and Martín-Rojas, 2021).
While "technology maturation" does not imply that an organization will know the responses to
every technological question, it does imply that its members will be equipped with the
knowledge and resources necessary to swiftly identify the solutions and take action to meet the
company's objectives instead of merely discussing them (Fleaca, Fleaca and Maiduc, 2022). As a
result, achieving technological maturity involves an endeavor that takes time and occurs
gradually throughout the entire organization; it also cannot happen suddenly. Various levels of
digital growth exist inside an organization (Fernández et al., 2023). While firms may vary in
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their level of digital maturation, there will always be methods for them to advance and change in
order to develop increasingly successful. Being more technologically mature is something
anyone can start doing at any time, and this is an ongoing endeavor (Bonfield et al., 2020).
Executives leading digitally mature companies know that, given the constant updating of the
ultimate goal of digital transformation, they must adopt a long-term perspective. Professionals
need to develop plans that take the future into consideration and use advancements in
technologies and procedures to bring the goals to life (Benavides et al., 2020). Two
interconnected stages make up the route to technological maturity: the initial one entails attaining
technological efficiency, and the subsequent phase is changing the company's Foundation.
Essential qualities, functionality, and substance are required for an environmentally friendly
technological economy (Appio et al., 2021). Consequently, if modernization was formerly a sign
of company maturity that fostered commercial benefit, then technological maturity has evolved
into a measure of the well-being of a firm. Therefore, evaluating the stage of development of the
technological efforts aids in determining the company's general standing in the competing
environment of its sector along with determining ways to remedy inadequacies (Ali, 2020).
It has become helpful and essential to evaluate the information technology usage maturation of
higher education institutions for a pair of main factors: first, it is able to tell mankind how
technologically advanced an institution is along with how prepared it's been for various
Technological difficulties; second, it may tell readers which IT disciplines and regions want
development (Abad-Segura et al., 2020). While various sectors have a large number of
paradigms for assessing technological readiness, higher education institutions have very less.
The procedure of achieving digital maturation is ongoing and is powered by activities related to
modernization (such as governance of information technology, digital evolution, as well as
digital leadership or creativity).
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HEIs' Technological Maturity Framework (Source: Fernández et al., 2023)

Reference List
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