Digital Transformation and the Post-COVID-19 Institution

Grajek, Susan

In the early months of every year, the author interviews some two dozen presidents, chancellors, provosts, and chief business officers to learn about the challenges and opportunities for which they are preparing in the coming year or two. The interviews are focused on institutional strategy, and the leaders rarely mention technology. Not so this year. As institutional leaders talk about the (hopefully) final months of the pandemic and a postpandemic vision for their institutions, technology is taking center stage across higher education in a way have never before seen. The interviewees spoke about technology as a core aspect of their plan to recover enrollments, to attract new learners, to introduce new efficiencies and simplifications, and to form and deepen partnerships with employers, communities, and other institutions. Whether they named it--and several did--or simply described it, these leaders are talking about digital transformation (Dx). COVID-19 has given college and university presidents and academic and administrative leaders deeper experience applying technology to everything they do, whether an institution is predominately online or fully campus-based. The pandemic has better prepared higher education to engage in Dx to create the post-COVID-19 institution.