Abstract:

The advent of widespread digitalisation in all spheres of life is inevitable with the entry of our society into the so-called "knowledge-based“ economy. Particularly critical is the problem of digitalisation of education, since the educational process and its accompanying elements (management, monitoring and control) are the foundation of knowledge and, accordingly, a generator of added value in the new economy. In recent years, there has been an increased dynamic in the labour market, with this process yet to escalate - by 2030 more than 2 billion people are expected to change jobs, nearly 30% of the current professions will disappear, while hundreds of new types of jobs will emerge due to the new digital lifestyle. Respectively, the requirements for adaptability and quality of education in a university environment will grow dynamically and this process must be carefully planned, monitored and managed at every stage, as the education system has never been subjected to such challenges and such a serious market pressure. People, graduating universities, are the closest to the labour market and directly flow into the economic life, so adapting to the new reality of the administrative practices, the managerial know-how and the digital skills of the high school leaders and educators have a direct impact on the competitiveness of the human resources that they produce.

A modern university is collecting and generating more and more data related to the increasingly complex lifestyle and work activities, while the efficient processing of this information plays an increasingly crucial role in the success of the managerial policies and the long-term vision for organizational development. The Bulgarian higher education institutions are under a constant pressure - on one hand, the nation's unfavourable demographics puts them in a constant state of struggle for students to survive financially and develop, and on the other, the global competition of the world biggest educational leaders is constantly “brain draining” young people, who go abroad or enrol in distance education at foreign educational institutions. Even without the formal metrics embedded in the different rating systems and rankings or in the accreditation process, it is already clear that every university's organizational strategy must constantly take into account the changing environment, establish new specialties, adapt curricula, embark on innovative projects and seek constant feedback both from the students and their future employers.

In order to match, create and develop a long-term solution to this problem, the article explores the opportunities for digitalization of administrative and management processes at a leading Bulgarian university in the way of scientific analysis and reengineering of specific activities related to its functioning.

Keywords:

Knowledge economy, management ecosystem, labour market, efficient digitalization, process reengineering.