Transforming Universities for a More Competent Society: Digitalization and Higher Education

Introduction

The developments in digital technologies are transforming the world by changing the ways people communicate, consume, interact, and work. The new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic accelerated digitalization and required society to renew itself (García-Morales et al., 2021) by acting as a catalyst promoting online learning and assessment (Kundu and Bej, 2021). It transformed the higher education sector (Pavlova, 2020; Pelletier et al., 2021). The pandemic, online learning options, and digital technologies are among the significant factors that shape the future of higher education (Veletsianos et al., 2021). Many governments have focused on digitalization, as exemplified by the German Online Access Act, which obliges the public authorities to give online educational services by 2022 (Bacharach et al., 2021). Thus, digital transformation is a prominent factor that will shape the future of higher education.

Digitalization can be explained as saving, processing, and displaying information by organizing it in bits (Hans and Crasta, 2019). Digital transformation can be defined as the changes that involve people, organizational structures, processes, and competitive dynamics facilitated by advancements in digital technology (Benavides et al., 2020). Digital transformation is a disruptive process that influences organizations and increases the importance of empathy, integrity, and humility in the new ways of doing business (Henderikx and Stoffers, 2022). Digitalization transforms higher education by reducing the importance of physical location and changing the dynamics of reaching and sharing information. The pandemic has accelerated universities' digitalization process, ensuring high-quality education in the competitive higher education environment (García-Morales et al., 2021; Neykova, 2021). A survey conducted on more than 1000 faculty members in the USA pointed out that the distance learning period during the pandemic will have a significant long-lasting effect on higher education and online learning (Veletsianos et al., 2021).

Besides the higher education sector, digitalization has brought new challenges at the individual level. People increasingly feel the pressure of continuous self-development to keep up with the rapid advancements in the digital world. Professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners need life-long learning solutions more than ever due to the rapidly changing technological environment and frequent innovations in digital technologies. The need to keep up may stem from professional requirements, such as managing social media marketing and using artificial intelligence systems for campaign management. Besides professional needs, individuals increasingly need to keep up with the digital technology to manage their simple daily tasks such as shopping online, updating personal profiles on a social networking site, or using specific mobile banking applications. Thus, technological skills have an essential role in having and maintaining a high-quality, wealthy, and healthy life. From this perspective, formal education and life-long learning are crucial and linked with individuals’ general well-being.

In that rapidly changing environment, even a bachelor’s diploma may become insufficient a few years after university graduation unless the individual has a personal growth mindset. People must keep on learning to improve their job performance, facilitate their daily lives, and follow current digital technology developments. Within that context, universities may best track recent developments in digital technologies as they shape the future of science by producing information and extending the boundaries of science together with certain other institutions. The higher education system must adapt to the radical changes in its technological environment shaped by disruptive innovations (García-Morales et al., 2021). Many governments have also named the digitalization of education a strategic priority (Ljungqvist and Sonesson, 2021). According to the Horizon Report, remote learning, increased use of learning technologies, and online faculty development are among the macro trends that will shape education (Pelletier et al., 2021).