The Global Voice of Higher Education
| Digital transformation of Higher Education |
Technology has an important impact on all aspects of higher education worldwide. It brings new opportunities; yet, its use to improve higher education is uneven from region to region, from country to country, and from an institution to another within a country. Thus, while pursuing the important potential of technology to bridge divides in terms of access to knowledge and information, it is important to acknowledge that there is a high risk of exacerbating existing or creating new inequalities, as it requires means, infrastructure and human skills. IAU’s action in this area aims to fully harness the potential of technology as a means to improve the quality of higher education and to increase access to knowledge and education for all.
Strategic goals for 2016-2020:
The IAU strategic plan (2016-2021) outlines the following strategic objectives to guide the work of the Association in this area:
- Advocate for equity and solidarity between and within higher education institutions in ICT matters;
- Promote the design of inclusive ICT strategies in HEIs by encouraging and facilitating networking and cooperation between HEIs, international, and national bodies.
INTRODUCTION
The IAU activities in this field are organized around the following core functions:
Global advocacy
IAU placed technology as one of the four key priorities in its 2016-2020 Strategic Plan. The main priority for this period is to develop a policy statement, building on the previous statement: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Universities from 2004 and adapting it to the current context. An Expert Advisory Group (EAG) has been established to oversee the process. The EAG is composed of Board members and experts from different regions. It met in May 2018 to initiate the work.
Survey
As a global Association with members in all regions of the world, the IAU has a unique position to monitor trends around the world in order to favour exchange of best practices. The Association has developed a survey to monitor the role of technology in higher education as a stocktaking exercise that will also serve to inform the revision of the statement Universities and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) from 2004.
Catalyst for collaboration and exchange
IAU has an important role to play as a catalyst for collaboration and exchange. In the field of technology and higher education, IAU seeks to pursue this mission through different activities.
One of them being this blog that allows Members to share their experience in this field including perspectives from all regions of the world. Visit the blog
IAU has also launched a new programme in 2019 which is the institutional site visits where higher education institutions that are very innovative or advanced in using technology in higher education in order to improve the quality or to widening access to higher education, invite IAU Members to attend a 2-day meeting to learn from their experiences.
Working Group:
The working group, composed of IAU Administrative Board members, provides advice to the Administrative Board and the Secretary General on the strategic direction in this field:
Chair
Remus Pricopie, Rector, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania
Members
Marta Losada Falk, Former President, Antonio Nariño University, Colombia
Pierre-André Pierre, Rector, Université Notre-Dame d’Haiti, Haiti
Daniel Hernandez Ruiperez, Former Rector, University of Salamanca, Spain
IAU Secretariat
Trine Jensen, Manager, Events and Projects
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GLOBAL ADVOCACY
IAU Policy Statement
In the context of the rapid development of technology, which affects society and higher education, IAU is currently developing a new IAU policy statement in order to outline the key principles and values that must underpin the digital transformation.
Expert Advisory Group
In order to oversee the drafting process, IAU established an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) composed of experts from different regions of the world as well as representatives of the IAU Administrative Board.
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Consult the list of the members of the Expert Advisory Group (EAG).
Hosted by the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), the IAU Expert Advisory Group met in Bucharest, Romania on 28-29 May 2018 in order to commence the work. The structure and fundamental principles were discussed during the meeting in order to start building the policy statement.
It is the aim of IAU to have a large stakeholder consultation process in order to include the voice of most importantly the IAU Members, both also student representatives and the higher education community at large.
Consultation process
The first consultation process was a collection of information from IAU Members and higher education institutions around the world in order to take stock of the current state of the digital transformation in higher education and the related opportunities as well as challenges. The overall drafting and consultation process will take place over 2 years (2018-2020) and the final version of the IAU Policy Statement will be submitted to the General Conference for adoption. The AIU 16th General Conference will take place in Dublin, Ireland in 2021.
➨ September 2020 update: IAU is currently conducting an open consultation on the draft version of the policy statement. IAU Members are invited to take part in this final phase of the process.
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OPEN CONSULTATION REPORT
Introduction
As a global Association with members in all regions of the world, the IAU has a unique position to monitor trends around the world in order to favour exchange of best practices. The Association has developed a survey to monitor the role of technology in higher education as a stocktaking exercise that will inform the development of a new IAU Policy statement about the digital transformation in higher education.
Collectively defining and shaping the digital transformation in higher education
IAU is currently (2018-2020) in the process of developing a new policy statement in order to define the values, principles and ethics that must accompany the digital transformation in order to ensure that it contributes to the global common good. As part of the large consultation process for the development of the statement. IAU undertook an open consultation from 1 November 2018 to 1 April 2019 in order to take stock of the current state of digital transformation and to collect the views and opinions of the higher education community at large. The consultation was developed in collaboration with the Expert Advisory Committee (EAG) composed of Board members and experts from all regions of the world.
➨ September 2020 update: IAU is now finalizing the draft version of the policy statement and calls upon all its Members to take part in this final phase of the process.
 "Higher Education in the Digital Era: The current state of transformation around the world" IAU is pleased to present this first stock-taking exercise in the field, and to contribute to discussing the current state of transformation, the risk of inequalities, the ethical implications and how to jointly leverage the potential of technological developments for a sustainable future. |
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IAU SITE VISITS
ABOUT IAU SITE VISITS
In March 2019, IAU launched a new programme entitled ‘Institutional Site Visits’. The purpose of these visits is to create opportunities for exchange among Members while meeting at a university that is very advanced in using digital innovations to improve higher education to learn from experiences at the host university. The aim of the programme is capacity building through exchange of information and experiences. The aim of the site visit is that the participants acquire new insights as to how to use technology and get ideas about how to adapt and use the information in his/her context.
The Institutional Site Visits are exclusively open to representatives of IAU Members (all categories)
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IAU SITE VISIT @ ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (AIT)
The next Institutional Site Visit is planned at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, Thailand.
Considering the current circumstances due to COVID-19 worldwide, the dates of the site visit are to be confirmed.
The main focus of this visit will be: "Social impact with innovation" which is the moto of AIT, which has a track record in ensuring that higher education contributes to sustainable societal development.
The President of AIT, Dr. Eden Woon, will set the scene and present his visionary plan for AIT and this will serve as input for exchanges of experiences about the transformations of higher education today. Beyond the exchange among participants, the site visit at AIT will include visits to different parts of the institute among others:
- Artificial Intelligence Center: The AI Center focuses on the advancement in technologies related to IoT, cloud computing and fog computing, to be able to support the analytics under development
- Regional Ressource Centre for Asia & the Pacific: RRCAP bridges the gap between the scientific understanding of sustainable development processes and sound policies at national and regional levels. Our goal is to provide resources for policy setting towards sustainable development, acting as a science-policy interface by regional networking, processing and assessing information and knowledge for governments, local communities and other stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Geoinformatics Center (GIC): Recognizing the emerging importance of spatial technologies and the potential future demand for skilled professionals, with financial support from UNEP/RRC-AP, GIC was found with an aim to create an environment that would help the need of the region in term of short-term training courses that are tailored to address potential applications in the regions. More than 1,000 have been trained from the region with the support of various national and international agencies.
- Yunus Center (YCA) is a collaboration between Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Asian Institute of Technology. The first such centre established with an academic institution, YCA’s vision is to harness the power of social business to create a poverty-free world.
The site visit will move beyond the walls of AIT and also include a visit to:
- National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA): NSTDA is an autonomous government, affiliated to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, with the Minister serving as the chairman of NSTDA Governing Board. NSTDA serves to accelerate science, technology and innovation development in Thailand in order to respond to the need of the industry and enhance the country’s competitiveness in the global economy, and as a result, making a contribution to national economic and social development.
- Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC) (tbc) was founded in 2015 by PTT Group, Thailand’s leader in energy and petrochemical industry as a private, postgraduate-level university situated in Wangchan Valley. VISTEC aspires to be a world-class frontier research university and foster passionate faculty and talented students.
- Visit to Tech companies to discuss the industry-higher education collaboration and partnerships.
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Watch the clip to learn more about AIT here!
Join this exciting site visit and learn from this unique institution how to leverage technology in higher education for a sustainable world!
FIRST IAU SITE VISIT TOOK PLACE AT UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE CATALUNYA (UOC) - MARCH 2019
The first IAU Site Visit was hosted by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) - the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) – which is the first fully online university worldwide. UOC welcomed 24 IAU Member representatives from 16 countries to Barcelona on 27-28 March in order to share their experience about online learning, the pedagogical and management model and its educational model based on personalization and accompanying students using e-learning.
When?: 27-28 March 2019
Where?: Barcelona, Spain
Watch a video from the Site Visit: click here
See the Agenda: click here
HOSTING A SITE VISIT
If you believe that your institution is a leader in this field and you wish to promote your institution and share your experience, consider hosting a site visit. Contact IAU to learn more.
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