Challenges IT Managers in Higher Education Face

Information technologies (IT) is one of the higher education areas that has to deal with constantly evolving challenges, due to the permanent changes in technology and never-ending informatic threats, that are becoming more complex to solve with every new hacker attack. This is a reality that affects every higher education institution at global level, that’s why universities are constantly developing new campus solutions to strengthen their IT security. But they also are making efforts to provide better services for academic activities, strategic planning and campus management. 

What are the most crucial challenges that IT managers in higher education have

to deal with?

Integration of different data.

This is an issue that constantly appears as an IT challenge, because the integration of different systems must to be aligned with the develop of new technologies and trends, which is a basic feature of every higher education institution.

So, IT managers should foresee that integration is not a one time job, but a constant process of improvement. Regarding to this, the Research Center for Higher Education of the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) explains that:

“using different languages and data base managers, tied up to the specificity of

their hardware, is a difficult problem for software engineering. Problems with data

consistency will be difficult to avoid, even for departments which are using the

same software, because they may use different definitions for the same type of

data. Furthermore, because the departmental systems are not integrated, there is

some duplication of administrative work within the department (different clerks

imputing the same data), besides duplication, in part, at the central

administration.” 

Quality, Schedule and Budget Compliance.

According to Thee Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), only 40% of IT projects in universities meet schedule, budget and quality goals. Quoting an IBM study, the AGB also says that:

- The best organizations are 10 times more successful than the worst organizations in carrying out successful IT projects.

- The biggest barriers to success were listed as “people” factors, including mindsets and attitudes (cited in 58% of failed projects), organizational culture (49% of projects), and lack of support by senior management (32%).

- Underestimating the complexity of projects was listed as a factor in 35% of failed projects.

“The most important recommendation – AGB says – is that boards must make sure

the proposed value of a large-scale IT investment is clear and measurable. Within

virtually any organization investing in information technology, the potential value

can be clarified as being one or more of five types, and we can pose specific

questions about the potential return on our investments".

Unprotected and Inaccessible Information.

These are the two faces of the same coin. Excessive security measures may create a cryptic and intricate system that could be useless in an learning environment where academics and students need easy access to many sources of information. On the other hand, if university’s internal strategic data isn’t sufficiently protected, the institution is at risk of suffering a big damage, caused for an internal or external attack. 

The CIO Review explains that:

“despite these risks, many higher education institutions are very passive in

implementing the best practices for IT risk management. Unfortunately, many

institutions have limited or no visibility of their IT risk exposure and are not

utilizing available resources effectively to contain these risks. They are not

proactive in developing institution wide systematic knowledge and processes to

assess and manage IT risks. These institutions may only have a vague

understanding of the serious implications that can result from unauthorized

access to their data or the loss of information technology resources. It is essential

for institutions of higher education to ensure that appropriate mechanisms are set

in place to provide uninterrupted IT services, data privacy and timely data

recovery to members of their respective communities.”

These main challenges show that IT management in higher education requires a comprehensive approach that consider IT services as a crucial part of higher education management, in order to face common challenges and to successfully beat them.

Which IT management challenges do you see in your country?