Indian Digital Transformational Initiatives in the Higher Education System: An Analytical Study

Introduction

Globally, developmental process primarily originates from creative and innovative thinking of an individual. Undoubtedly, Higher Education promotes the academic quality and research in a country. In order to disseminate knowledge to the aspirants in educational and research institutions, the Information and Technology has been put at use widely across the world. The digital transformation gained importance in the field of education to accelerate the wheels of world economy. During its period of transition, there are multifarious managerial issues. There have been a lot of initiatives undertaken by the Government of India for improving the quality of higher education and research. The effectiveness of such initiatives ought to be evaluated and the burning issues to be tackled prudently by the government or policymakers. Otherwise, digital transformation in higher education can never be considered as a boom but bane. Hence, it necessitates an efficient management for yielding better fruits.

Thus, education becomes very important for growth and development of any country. It shapes the personality of an individual. Eventually, the collective and productive efforts of individuals enable a country to compete with other counterparts socially and economically in the long run. As per the key results of the AISHE Report 2015-16, the Higher Educational Institutions are categorised into three levels viz; Universities, Colleges and Stand-Alone institutions. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education is 24.5 per cent amongst 18-23 age group. Digital tools have started gaining acceptance but yet to pick up in Colleges and Universities. Yet, the digital technology started changing the way of learning amongst the students.

Such digital Transformation is an integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how it operates and delivers value to customers. It is, therefore, imperative for all business enterprises, irrespective of its size.

According to a survey by Tech Pro in the year 2018, only 22 per cent of respondents expressed that their companies have a comprehensive digital strategy in place. As reported, 49 per cent of them responded that they were working on it. More interestingly, 21 per cent said that their business enterprises had no such strategy.

Digitalization can optimize legacy and emerging functions. Such transition process may require an overhaul of every aspect of an enterprise. However, it was a complex task and challenge before the corporate leaders to develop and implement the shift. Hence, before launching a project, they need to consider a lot of factors such as integrating legacy and digital assets, overcoming digital change hesitation, managing the shifting risk landscape and keeping pace with innovation.

Such transformation process involves several steps viz., clarification of culture, assessment of the project, programme or process and cross-corporate collaboration. Thus, it becomes a continuous process which will never end in the course of preparation of an enterprise for its subsequent periods.

Thus, globally, developmental process primarily originates from creative thinking of an individual. Education plays a vital role in shaping the personality of a child. Thus, the quality of education for an individual becomes very essential. Simultaneously, its easy accessibility by all the aspirants should also be ensured by the Government, especially in Higher Education. According to a Legatum Prosperity Index, India ranks 92 in education among the 145 countries. In 2015, the index reveals that it ranks 99 among 142 countries in terms of its economic development, entrepreneurship development, education, health, safety, security etc. As compared with other developing countries like USA, Malyasia, Philippines etc., India is lacking behind which draws the attention of the policy makers and government. The managerial functions of successful planning and implementation ought to be performed by the Government efficiently. In this context, in order to compete with other counterparts, India has been taking initiatives to provide an integrated digital platform to its citizens. Indirectly, it will also lubricate the wheels of Indian economy in the long run.

Keeping in view, the current study has been undertaken to examine the Indian digital initiatives in Higher Education System, identify the crucial managerial issues, and suggest remedies for improvement of the Indian Higher Education System via Digital Transformation.