EXPLOITING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: AN ISSUES PAPER
9. This chapter identifies possible trends in higher education and thus presents a setting in which the conventional and innovative use of information technology, resources and systems can be explored. The revolution in digital electronics is transforming the nature of work in every business and institution. The marriage of computing and various forms of telecommunications is increasing the scope and pace of technological innovation beyond imagination bringing with it economic dislocations and changes in cultural values and lifestyles. Educational institutions, particularly universities, cannot stand apart from currents of change if they are to be nerve centres of the information age.
10. The funding of higher education institutions depends on factors such as student numbers, success in research and other income generating activities. Public sector funding is dictated by political considerations whilst private sector funding is largely dictated by the business objectives of industry and commerce. The higher education sector is thus prey to a number of key forces such as the state of the economy and the imperatives of the Government which are outside its immediate control (but not necessarily its influence). Universities must compete for students and research grants from industry and the various Research Councils. Many Universities are keen to improve their appeal to the Research Councils. Competitiveness does not reduce the rich diversity currently enjoyed by the sector (it will enhance it) but it may lead to individual institutions seeking out and exploiting niche markets. Diversity is made difficult in a market dominated by a uniform funding model, however.
11. Considerable changes have taken place as a result of the Dawkins reforms. However, the evolution of the expanded higher education sector is still at an early stage and further mergers of universities are possible. There is likely to be a considerable repositioning within the sector over the next five to ten years due to key drivers of competition and collaboration and the importance of audit and review processes aimed at assessing the quality and effectiveness of higher education.
12. Australia, like the USA, the UK and other OECD countries before it, appears to be heading for a period of a tightening of government budgets for education. A first reaction in some countries of saying "Receiving less, we'll do less" has been declared unacceptable by governments for obvious political reasons. Other proposals to increase the class size or the teaching duties of teaching staff are considered unacceptable by teachers, students and employers as being detrimental to the quality of education. There is, however, continuous political/social pressure to explore all reasonable alternatives for the delivery of higher education services which cannot be ignored.
13. If the move towards a more flexible work force in the country and decreasing job stability continues, there will be a need for graduates periodically to retrain and up-date their skills; the concept of life-long learning will become important. Forecasters in the USA say that the average work life in the future will consist of six or seven different careers, each requiring new skills, new attitudes, new values. One estimate is that by the year 2000, 75 per cent of the workforce will need retraining. This will increase the demand for continuing post-experience adult education which may be largely, but not wholly, based on part-time study at home. Even if this prediction is not met in full, there is a large market for such education, not necessarily geared to a degree or other formal qualifications: the growth in Open Learning Agency (OLA) students demonstrates this. Postgraduate training in business management and IT relevant skills and areas associated with technology changes (in particular industrial sectors) could all be growth areas. The development of postgraduate colleges, perhaps based on the American model, is a further possibility. An erosion in the boundaries between universities and other providers such as schools, TAFE colleges and industry is possible.
14. The parallels with business and industry can be taken too far but competitiveness does not mean there is no need for collaboration, or that sector-wide initiatives designed to cut costs and avoid wasteful use of resources should not be encouraged. Other sectors such as banking, retail and the oil industry collaborate on pre-competitive use of IT. The current breadth of collaborative bodies should continue to thrive and be strengthened by the broader base of higher education activities. Such groups will help ensure the cohesiveness of the sector as the "glue" of public funding thins, although less broadly based special interest groups of universities with compatible visions will also be established. The sector should seek to maximise collaborative advantage as well as individual institutions maximising their competitive advantage.
15. There are useful lessons to be learned from business as to ways in which the internal management and administration of an institution can be improved. The sector, in general, is not at the leading edge in the provision and use of management or executive information systems and lacks flexible mechanisms for exploiting resources: this includes human, financial and information resources as well as buildings and capital equipment. Successful institutions in the next decade will be making greater productive use of these assets. In particular residential, conference, business and catering services are all important areas of internal management where IT can be profitably exploited. The processes of business planning and project management need to be widely understood and implemented and both staff and management will be working to clear objectives designed to promote the health of their institution in pursuance of the mission aims.
16. Institutions have been able to cope with constraints in funding due to the ability of staff to respond to efficiency gains and to continue to deliver high quality teaching. However, many institutions now face staffing problems. Salary levels and other traditional benefits such as job security are being eroded relative to other sectors and this will make it harder to attract good quality staff. Some universities will be facing the retirement of many professional staff by the turn of the century which will exacerbate the problem. The role of teaching will continue to grow in importance and supporting staff will take a higher profile role. The proportion of part-time staff, and staff on fixed term contracts, is likely to continue to increase.
17. The pressures on institutions inevitably lead to pressure on the physical limits of campuses, the maintenance of the existing fabric and the replacement of equipment. Although a growth in home based students is predicted, it is unlikely that campuses will be smaller; the management of the campus will continue to present problems in areas like security, repair and health and safety. This will mean improved mechanisms to control and monitor access to the campus and individual buildings (especially residences) and facilities. Lecture theatres, libraries and teaching laboratories will need to be equipped for more modern ways of working. The concepts of the virtual library and virtual laboratory will have an impact perhaps leading to the design of new facilities in addition to a significant up-dating of existing rooms.
18. Estimates in various countries reveal that additional campuses or major extensions to existing ones will be required each year for the foreseeable future in order to meet the unmet demand for student places. For example, the California State University system estimates it needs to build the equivalent of a 10,000 student campus each year for the next 15 years to meet the demand. Universities which have developed strategic plans for the replacement of equipment (not just computer equipment) in order to keep essential equipment in step with technological developments have found the burden impossible to sustain.
19. As students pay an increasingly larger percentage of the costs of their higher education (whether through loans, parental contributions, business sponsorship, or direct payments for tuition) many will seek payback by selecting higher education programmes that relate directly to their career opportunities and earnings potential. The student of the future will obviously be computer literate as such skills are already taught in schools, and the use of computers is taking an increasingly important role in the home. Students will also become "information literate" in that they will expect to find information to be available on line, and will know how to find it. The personal workstation will be a tool virtually all students will possess in the same way that the pocket calculator is now ubiquitous. Few disciplines will not require such facilities. Many students (but not all) will wish to work part-time and seek to work more from home with good quality tutorial supervision: a continuum from OLA type teaching to conventional three- or four-year full-time campus study will exist. Industry will continue to seek graduates with transferable skills more selectively.
20. Dramatic changes are taking place in the age profile of the student base. Whereas traditionally the majority of students have been in the age group of 18-22 attending a three- or four-year course on a full-time basis, more and more are adults over the age of 25 and attending courses part-time. Such students are more likely to define quality in the language of the quality improvement movement - satisfaction of customer needs - than in the traditional measures of quality used in higher education: rich resources as represented by the size of libraries, staff:student ratios, and the number and size of grants and contracts won by faculty.
21. There are changes in where students learn. Learning is no longer confined exclusively to the classroom but happens in workplaces, from the office to the factory floor to submarines under the sea; in malls; in hotel rooms; and in the home. Enabled by the power of information technology, classroom learning now extends beyond a single campus to distant sites across the city, across the state, and across the country. Inherent in this is a profound shift away from the concept of the university as a place to the concept of the university as a spatial even virtual environment using new pedagogies that reach out to students, wherever they are, rather than cramming them into larger and larger lecture theatres.
22. The net result is that institutions are increasingly expected to offer instructional and support services based on the convenience of consumers rather than that of the institution. Education cannot escape from the demand for services that are client-service oriented. The expectation is that truly learner-centred education will be delivered directly to the individual at a time and in a place determined by the learner.
23. Universities have always played an important part in the local and regional community with cultural, business and wider educational links. These links will continue to be very important and, in particular, many institutions will seek to increase the understanding of the ever changing needs of industry. Increasingly institutions are looking for national and international involvement in collaborative research and to encourage overseas students. By the 21st Century many institutions will have established or strengthened links with business and secondary and further education, not just in a regional context but internationally - particularly in South East Asia but also with a clear targeting on emerging economies like China. Such links are vital to increase student numbers and funding. It should prove to be a rewarding relationship for all parties in the intellectual as well as financial sense.
24. Included in the pressure on institutions is the pressure for quality assurance currently being experienced by universities in many countries. Such political/social pressures dictate that all reasonable alternatives for delivery of higher education services should be explored.
25. The revolution in digital technology is transforming the nature of work in every business and institution. The marriage of computing and various forms of telecommunications is increasing the scope and pace of technological innovation beyond imagination, bringing with it economic dislocations and changes in cultural values and lifestyles.
26. We also have new tools available to assist us while we learn. Steve Ehrmann of the Annenberg/CPB project (Twigg, 1994) has pointed out that we live in a world richer in information and in the tools for using information than most of us can exploit because we lack the skills to use them. New visualisation tools give us capabilities in addition to text in order to imagine, to analyse, to communicate. Powerful creative tools are available to produce newsletters, design homes and offices, create music. Electronic communication tools are creating global communities; computing and networking are shattering and reshaping individual jobs and entire industries.
27.Universities cannot stand apart from currents of change if they are to be nerve centres of the Information Age.
28. Many authors, particularly US ones who are particularly fond of the term, see the pressures and changes constituting a paradigm shift for higher education. Although calling it a paradigm shift, it is clear that the transition and changes are not happening overnight. Not everything is black and white and there are a large number of shades of grey in each element of the paradigm. For example, Kathy Tiano, Senior Consultant with Digital Equipment Corporation, sees it as follows:
Old Paradigm for Higher New Paradigm for Higher Education Education Take what you can get Courses on demand Academic calendar Year-round operations University as a city University as idea Terminal degree Lifelong learning University as ivory tower University as partner in society Student=18 to 25-year-old Cradle to grave Books are primary medium Information on demand Tenure Market value Single product Information reuse/info exhaust Student a 4-year revenue source Lifelong revenue resource Competition is other Competition is everyone universities Student as a customer Student as a "pain" Delivery anywhere Delivery in a classroom Global Multi-cultural Bits & bytes Bricks & Mortar Multi-discipline Single discipline Market-centric Institution-centric Market funded Government funded Technology as differentiator Technology as an expense
29. Such an scenario requires the re-engineering or transformation of higher education. Transformation, however, is not something which will happen overnight. It will take at least five to ten years for it to be fully effected. Again, technology alone, whatever the amount of equipment used, does not solve any problem, or increase quality, or decrease cost. What is needed is a rethinking of the whole system without preconceived ideas and a redefinition of the way it is organised and how it works so that the technology can best be used to increase efficiency, effectiveness and, above all, quality, while at the same time decreasing overall costs.
30. In summary, the higher education sector of the next decade will be subject to considerable change. There will be greater competition for funds and students. Universities will be efficiently run with a clear academic and business focus. Some institutions will be aimed at specialist and niche markets. Students will be more demanding and will require flexible training designed to enhance career potential. The university of the future will seek a foundation in challenging learning and research programmes and will be closely integrated into the local and regional community and often with an international dimension. This will mean that the next ten years will be a period of great change both organisationally and in terms of external links. Change demands flexibility and a clear focus. There are many opportunities to be explored and this paper will now concentrate on areas where information technology and information systems can be exploited by institutions to ensure they thrive in this new climate.
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