Insights from Top CIOs on the Future of Higher Education in South Africa
There are dozens of higher education institutions in South Africa and, like in every country, they face challenges both ubiquitous and uniquely their own. To delve into the topical academic themes in South Africa and how they correlate to those of the world more broadly, Anthology hosted ‘the Higher Education CIO Exchange’ in late April. This event took place in Cape Town and featured thought-provoking panels, insights sharing, and community-building activities.
“We compared South African higher education institutions against the wider global community of HEIs in order to understand the challenges, recognise trends, and correlate patterns,” David Millington, Anthology’s vice president of product strategy, said of the event. “We had some excellent dialogue from the group, many of whom had travelled from all across the country to attend this much anticipated event.”
Nearly 20 South African chief information officers were present, as was esteemed speaker and the country's deputy minister of higher education, science, and innovation, who discussed the state of education in South Africa and the possibility of switching to a centralized admissions system. Continue reading below to learn more about the group's discussions, worries, and potential solutions.
Key Takeaways
Digital Transformation
One theme that permeated the event and the minds of its attendees was "digital transformation," and more specifically, "what precisely is digital transformation?"
Everyone had different takes on the hackneyed term. To some, digital transformation (DT) meant the transition of manual to automated processes. To others, it was an improvement to the student experience or flexibility in the workplace. However, the institutions who are having the most success are approaching it from both aspects.
“[DT] is really a series of culture changes, workforce changes, and technology shifts that enable new operating models to transform an institution’s operations,” Millington said.
“A lot of people think DT is purely an IT strategy, but it's not.”
The term––or rather, the considered approach––involves not only technology, but also new and student-centric thinking when it comes to business management. When implementing digitisation, institutions also must create organisation-wide digital partnerships that break down the siloes between different departments. When properly executed, DT creates a frictionless, seamless integration between previously separate sectors such as recruiting, admissions, registration, student finance, and student affairs. This cohesion across the institution ultimately results in heightened student and staff satisfaction as their needs can be more easily anticipated, intelligent solutions provided to meet those needs, and processes simplified to enact those solutions.
“It's about alignment of the institution’s business strategy with the IT strategy, because business and IT go hand-in-hand,” Millington said.
“Opting for new technologies is important to improve processes, break down silos, and obviously digitise along the way.”
Over-Enrollment
Unlike many other parts of the world where recruitment is a crucial part of the marketing strategy, South African universities struggle with over-enrollment. Universities often receive 12 times the number of applicants they have the capacity to admit. However, their current manual admissions systems cannot respond to applications quickly enough, so by the time the institution sends an offer to the prospective student, they have often accepted a place elsewhere. Due to the slow processing and notification delays, most universities end up being under-enrolled despite receiving such a large quantity of applications.
Academic faculty at the Higher Education CIO Exchange discussed how a data system, such as a customer relationship managements system (CRM), could provide a much-needed revamp to their current system. Through automating the admissions process, applicants would receive updates as they progress from prospective to admitted students. Frequent alerts along the way would keep prospective students up-to-date and invested in the outcome.
Another potential solution to over-enrollment discussed at the event was increasing online courses to expand the number of students per university. Many attendees expressed concern that, because half of South African university students are interstate migrants, the institutional culture revolves around in-person interaction. However, with hybrid models becoming more popular, it is an important option to consider.
Cybersecurity/Cloud
Another concern discussed at the Higher Education CIO Exchange was cybersecurity and cloud technology.
In South Africa and many countries around the world, there is load shedding, or a reduction in the supply of electricity, that leads to regular planned power outages. Some CIOs at the event raised the concern of what happens to university server information if the area loses power or there is an attempted data breach.
Thankfully, Anthology uses partner Microsoft’s Azure, which benefits from a robust Service Level Agreement, for the cloud infrastructure. If the service level falls below what is outlined in the cloud provider guarantee, the institution gets credits back on that service. This risk-mitigating assurance instilled confidence amongst attendees in the security and availability of SaaS (Software as a Service).
Furthermore, the group discussed the topic from a financial and staff skilling standpoint. It is expensive for any IT team to implement measures such as advanced threat detection, high availability, regulatory compliance, vulnerability monitoring, etc. As Anthology SaaS solutions are effective and secure, many CIOs considered this to be a viable option.
Vendor Selection and Considerations
The final theme that surfaced repeatedly during the event was fear of change, which we all face. This fear manifested itself in two ways: the first was fear of switching to a SaaS partnership, and the second was fear of selecting the wrong vendor (if the institution were to change).
According to the CIOs in attendance, much of the apprehension related to digital transformation derived from not wanting these new systems to be viewed as a threat to job security. In academic institutions, much of the faculty has been in place for decades, so there might be reluctance to modernise. However, Anthology’s vice president of product strategy provided a strong counterpoint.
“It’s important to remain open minded and embrace change. If you stand still, you risk losing your competitive edge. People fear a departure from the status quo; however, with trust in leadership and a collaborative approach change can bring new possibilities,” Millington said.
In relation to choosing a vendor, Anthology is not only the largest EdTech ecosystem on a global scale, but also the right fit for any institution that values localisation and partnership. The organisation may be multinational, but Anthology also has local staff and partners with South Africa’s OneConnect, which has two offices in South Africa.