The demographics of the modern university is changing, and the academic pursuits of contemporary students are changing. Non-traditional students and students pursing graduate degrees are becoming a larger proportion of the modern university. These students also demand more flexibility and different modalities in how they obtain their education. This increasing demand has led to a greater utilization of technology solutions to provide the access that these growing constituencies need to achieve their educational goals.

Data and Analytics

When asked, most institutions would declare that their most valuable resource is its people. However, this is not necessarily the case in the modern academy. Today the most valuable asset that higher education institutions possess is data. Thanks to technological advances, colleges and universities are great repositories of data. Data is the foundation on which all information and knowledge is based.

As one of the traditional stewards of the knowledge economy, higher education needs to understand and adopt the benefits that data and analytics bring to their institutions. Colleges and universities have followed the lead of the business sector in embracing the value of data and analytics in its operations. Institutions use this data to learn more about the clientele they serve through analytical analysis, and these analytics helps provide a more appropriate experience for members of the organization.

If assessed, the value of the data housed at education institutions would range in the billions of dollars. The types of data collected include student and employee data, intellectual property, financial, and data related to alumni and other associated constituencies. With such value, schools need to be vigilant in how it collects and store data. In addition, concerns related to reliability and validity of data need to be addressed by employing appropriate resources to analyze the data.

Security

Technological advancements have made security a critical issue in higher education. As previously mentioned, the evolution of the knowledge economy to focus more on data and analytics has made colleges and universities guardians of valuable repositories of digital information. As such, this new role has made these institutions the target of constant cybersecurity attacks.

To combat the seemingly ubiquitous cyber threat to higher education has forced institutions to take counter measures. Today many institutions employ cybersecurity professionals that exclusively focus on maintaining the integrity of the technology resources and to protect the data used by the organization.

Each of these areas of technology influence (innovation, data/analytics, and security) and provide critical value in educating students in modern higher education. Moreover, an institution’s ability to be successful (or lack thereof) in using technology in these areas helps determine its success and (in some instances) its survival. Moreover, the integration of technology into all aspects of contemporary education is critical in producing competent, contributing members of society, which should be the goal of every higher education institution.