Top-Ten IT Issues in Higher Education: EDUCAUSE 2007 Survey Results

EDUCAUSE has just published the results of the 2007 Current Issues Survey in EDUCAUSE Quarterly (EQ). The article identifies the issues that IT leaders in higher education see as their most critical challenges. Of special value to IT professionals, the EDUCAUSE 2007 Current Issues Web site includes:

• recommended readings on each of the top-ten issues,
• links to comprehensive resources in the EDUCAUSE Resource Center, and
• a downloadable slide presentation on current issues for use with campus constituencies.

The 2007 survey gathered responses from 33 percent (591) of the 1,785 primary representatives of EDUCAUSE member institutions, representing public and private, and associate- through doctorate-granting institutions of all sizes. The primary representative is typically the CIO at the member institution.

Four findings associated with all respondents to this year's survey merit special mention:

• For the 2007 survey, the Current Issues Committee (CIC) decided to split a key issue choice from last year’s survey, Security and Identity Management, into two separate issues: Security and Identity/Access Management. CIC members reasoned that both issues have separately matured and become complex enough in recent years that it made no sense to continue yoking them together. Last year’s combined issue was the number-one IT-related issue in terms of strategic importance to the institution, topping Funding IT, which had occupied the top position for three straight years, 2003–2005. In this year’s results, Funding IT moved back into the top position, with Security second and Identity/Access Management fourth.
• For the first time ever, Course/Learning Management Systems (C/LMS) moved into the top-ten ranking in two areas: number nine among issues of strategic importance and number seven with the potential to become more significant in the future. In addition, C/LMS jumped from eighth in 2006 to fifth in 2007 for its consumption of human and financial resources. The EQ article discusses to what extent this issue’s emergence may have been influenced by the Blackboard patent controversy or whether it is emerging as a mission-critical enterprise system.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity, which made a dramatic appearance last year as number four in strategic importance following the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, continued among the top-ten in 2007—fifth in strategic importance, fourth in potential to become more significant, and eighth in IT leaders’ time commitment.
• The most dramatic change in ranking was the drop of Portals from fifth among issues expected to be more significant in 2006 to ninth in 2007. In future years as more institutions deploy and refine role-based information gateways, and as the technology becomes more robust, it may drop off the all-respondent aggregate measure.

The PowerPoint presentation of the 2007 survey data, using tables, demographic breakdowns, and comparative analyses from the article, is a perennially popular resource. CIOs and IT professionals can draw on these slides for presentations to various constituencies on how their campuses and systems are addressing current IT issues. The slides, which can be customized as needed, are accessible on the EDUCAUSE 2007 Current Issues Web site.

About EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. The current membership comprises more than 2,200 colleges, universities, and educational organizations, including 250 corporations, with 17,000 active members. Learn more about EDUCAUSE at www.educause.edu.