For Release:
July 30, 2009 | Contact:
Catherine Yang
Senior Director
EDUCAUSE
cyang@educause.edu
303-544-5671 |
July 30, 2009, Boulder, Colorado—EDUCAUSE, the association for information technology (IT) in higher education, has just published the results of the 2009 Current Issues Survey in the latest EDUCAUSE Review. The article identifies the issues that IT leaders in higher education see as the most critical challenges they and their institutions face.
Of special value to IT professionals, the article’s associated web page, EDUCAUSE 2009 Current Issues Survey Resources, includes:
- Recommended readings for each of the top-ten issues
- Tables with demographic breakdowns of the survey results
The 2009 survey gathered responses from 28 percent (554) of the 1,955 primary representatives of EDUCAUSE member institutions, representing colleges and universities of all types and sizes—public and private, community colleges through research universities. The primary representative is typically the chief information officer (CIO) or senior IT administrator at a member institution.
Three findings merit special mention:
- Since 2003, the top-three issues in terms of strategic importance to the institution have been, in various rankings, Administrative/ERP Information Systems, Funding IT, and Security. This holds true for 2009 as well, but the order has once again shifted. After ceding the top spot to Security last year, Funding IT returns to the number-one ranking this year, which is no surprise given the difficult economic environment and its impact on institutional budgets. Administrative/ERP Information Systems moves to the number-two spot, reflecting the essential role such systems play in the strategic and operational management of colleges and universities. The information and insights derived from campus information systems are central to institutional responses to current economic challenges. Security remains among the top-three strategic issues at number three, consistent with the ongoing needs and challenges of protecting institutional data and IT environments.
- For 2009, the categories of Infrastructure and Advanced Networking merged to create a single category, Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure, which offers a more holistic view of IT than either category separately. As evidenced by the current buzz around cloud computing, stakeholders are increasingly less concerned about where applications end and the network begins; the term “cyberinfrastructure” effectively spans this view, encompassing the full range of advanced computing and networking resources that enable e-research and e-scholarship. As part of the combined category, Infrastructure remains ranked in fourth place, a position it has held since 2007. This reflects not only the importance of maintaining a robust infrastructure/cyberinfrastructure but also emerging paradigm-shifts in infrastructure technologies. It is becoming outdated to assume institutions will meet their IT needs internally via licensed applications as colleges and universities increasingly incorporate outsourcing, cloud computing, and open-source applications into their IT environments.
- Teaching and Learning with Technology (formerly E-Learning/Distributed Teaching and Learning) emerged as the number-five issue of strategic importance this year, jumping four spots from its number-nine ranking in 2008. This reflects how the trend toward augmenting instruction with technology is expanding the role of the CIO to encompass many areas of teaching and learning. CIOs have become crucial to instructional units because they provide leadership in evaluating, selecting, and supporting the technologies that underlie multiple forms of distributed learning. With the growth of the IT organization’s responsibilities in this mission-critical area, CIOs and their staff confront significant opportunities and challenges as they grapple with increasingly diverse and fluid instructional environments, marking this issue’s rise in strategic importance.
About EDUCAUSE
EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association and the foremost community of IT leaders and professionals committed to advancing higher education. EDUCAUSE programs and services are focused on analysis, advocacy, community building, professional development, and knowledge creation because IT plays a transformative role in higher education. EDUCAUSE supports those who lead, manage, and use information technology through a comprehensive range of resources and activities. For more information, visit www.educause.edu.
