The increasing digitalisation of higher education institutions brings with it a range of new opportunities and risks. This report draws on international examples and best practices to synthesise the typical challenges and provide insights into potential solutions. This includes examining existing practices in educational technology acquisition and management within the public education sector, including procurement practices and the shift towards outsourcing and SaaS services. From there new challenges are explored, such as responding to external forces, managing new forms of risk, balancing efficiencies with educational quality, and maintaining diverse educational technology portfolios.

Author

Anne-Marie Scott is an education consultant with international expertise in digital, online, and open education. She was Deputy Provost of Athabasca University (Canada), and previously at the University of Edinburgh (UK) where she led many major digital and open education initiatives. She serves as a member of the Government of British Columbia’s Digital Learning Advisory Committee and is the CFO (Treasurer) of the Open Source Initiative, the non-profit which stewards global definitions of open source software and open source artificial intelligence. She currently teaches critical approaches to educational technology as adjunct faculty at Royal Roads University (Canada).

Commissioned by the N-TUTORR National Digital Leadership Network.

The core of the paper presents various approaches to meeting these challenges and realising digital opportunities within the framework of financial sustainability and operational efficiency, including procurement approaches, management methodologies, strategic approaches to break down institutional silos, shared service models, and new accounting practices. The report concludes with key recommendations aiming to serve as a reference guide for institutions on their digital transformation journey.