Increasing partnerships with industry can help institutions succeed and survive, say experts
The Times Higher Education Student Success Forum 2020 heard that institutions can leverage technology to create a cloud-powered student life cycle where learning and teaching can thrive.
Speaking at the panel discussion ¡°A?cloud-powered student life?cycle¡±, Kelly Sundberg, director, education strategy, business applications and power platform at Microsoft, told the forum that universities had an opportunity to transition to new IT?systems built with flexibility in?mind.
¡°We¡¯re talking a?lot about returning to?normal. But is that really what we?want? Or do we want to transform into a new normal?¡± she asked. ¡°That¡¯s where the cloud-powered student life cycle is really key ¨C to ensure you have that flexibility to look forward and interact with whatever you need to?face.¡±
Sundberg added that higher education institutions typically faced three challenges in relation to their IT?systems: accidental architecture (a?legacy of older technology), technical debt (where a?rushed project roll-out now requires fixes) and educational culture (for example, staff being resistant to adopting new systems).
David Minahan, chief information officer at TEDI-London, said the institution had adopted a cloud-first approach with a focus on mixed-mode learning. The design-led engineering school successfully ran a fully remote summer school for 147 students from 21 countries using Microsoft Teams and other systems.
Minahan?argued that institutions with older technology should not put off updating their systems.
¡°You¡¯ve got to try to eat an elephant a?bite at a?time. The problem doesn¡¯t resolve itself, so at some point you have to make a?start,¡± he said. ¡°The biggest piece of advice I?could give anybody senior at a university or higher education institution is to really think about your planning cycles. Think about your budget allocation and how you can shift that to more agile delivery methods.
¡°What the world is showing us now is the organisations that are going to succeed and survive are those that can respond in more agile ways.¡±
Minahan added that there were often success stories within universities: for example, a?department with an advanced IT structure that the rest of the institution could learn from.
The panel agreed that collaborations between institutions and IT partners should be ¡°genuine partnerships, not just a transactional relationship¡±.
¡°The more that we can work in partnership, the more we can transform our industry and transform our institutions,¡± said Sundberg. ¡°Look back on 2020 as a?year that you were able to transform your institution by leveraging the new technology that is out?there.¡±
Watch ¡°A?cloud-powered student life?cycle¡± in the link above or on the .
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