Abstract:

Digital transformation is omnipresent. Digital tools are essential for both science and teaching and learning at the university level. Despite those facts, the higher education (HE) sector has not yet faced a disruptive transformation through digitalisation. Neither teaching and learning nor traditional research have yet been subject to a radical change in the core business. We look at the role of digital platforms in HE and their impact on a potential disruption of this sector.

As an initial step, we deduce essential criteria for scaling digital platforms from examples in industry. Then, we propose a model in which criteria within a business view, organisational view, and external market view in turn influence the scale of a digital platform.

We find that the combination of four of these criteria — Private Resources, Openness, Common Legal Context and Payment — would potentially result in a moderate scaling. Through positive feedback, Connectedness (including two perspectives: Shared Interest and Broker Role), Rating/Credibility, and Global Offer can push this scaling into a spiral.

Next, we apply those criteria to the current situation in HE. Based on this, we identify enablers for digital transformation which have not yet made their impact felt in the broad community of universities, at least not in Germany.

Through a scenario based 10 years from now, we explore how the core of a joint model of research and teaching could falter once the critical changes take place. In the case of research, we expect the planning and funding processes to mark this tipping point. In the case of teaching and learning, the abandonment of formal degrees issued by universities will potentially be a game changer. In the long run, we expect the higher education sector to lose control of its own governance; this may also have consequences for the unity of research and teaching.

Keywords:

Digital Transformation, Higher Education, Platform, Criteria for Scale, Modeling