Information Technology Governance for Higher Education Institutions: A Multi-Country Study

Abstract

Information Technology governance (ITG) calls for the definition and implementation of formal practices at the highest level in the organization, involving structures, processes and relational practices for the creation of business value from IT investments. However, determining the right ITG practices remains a complex endeavor. Previous studies identify IT governance practices used in the health and financial sectors. As universities have many unique characteristics, it is highly unlikely that the ITG experiences of the financial and health industry can be directly applied to universities. This study, using Design Science Research (DSR), develops a baseline with advised practices for the university sector. The analysis of thirty-four case studies from the literature review provides a set of practices as a starting point for the development of the baseline model proposal through multiple case studies involving interviews with IT directors, in ten universities in five countries: eight new practices emerge in this study. The model proposed was evaluated by experts. The result is a baseline model with adequate practices for IT governance in universities as well as a set of guidelines for its implementation. Findings revealed that is possible to extend the ITG practices’ baseline when looking at specific contexts.

Implementation of suitable information technology governance frameworks for Moroccan higher education institutions

“…Therefore, ITG management still has a long way to go. All recent academic literature studies in the field of ITG within universities [22], [49]- [55] pact of ITG on performance and strategic alignment. The obtained results from their analysis have not provided a clear vision of the adoption of an ITG framework in HEIs.…”

Building a Specialized IT Governance Strategy for Higher Education: A Strategic Model

“…Given the large number of these committees, defining their roles and responsibilities is essential to avoid overlapping decisions and make them more efficient (Bianchi et al, 2020). Addo et al (2021); Soobaroyen et al (2019) consider the audit committee and risk management as an effective tool for achieving strategic objectives Structure of the IT organization (S4): According to Scalabrin Bianchi et al (2021), the federal mode is the most adopted by large and huge universities. On the other hand, the centralized structure is adopted by mediumsized universities.…”

“…It is necessary to define the skills and experiences the expectations of the leaders of higher education of the CIOs for more efficiency of ITG (Dlamini, 2015). On the other hand, Scalabrin Bianchi et al (2021) have shown the effectiveness of two good practices of project management offices (S6) and business process management offices (S7) in universities in Germany, Brazil, Portugal and Spain.…”

“…Formal communication (R3): (Scalabrin Bianchi et al, 2021) have demonstrated the importance of the latter's influence on all good practices. On the other hand, (Huygh and De Haes, 2016) discovered through quantitative results the positive influence of formal communication on ITG efficiency and IT innovation.…”

Enhancing Risk Management in an IT Service Company: A COBIT 2019 Framework Approach

“…COBIT is the most widely adopted IT Governance framework (Smits & Hillegersberg, 2018). COBIT has been designed with established best practices in the field of IT governance in mind (Scalabrin Bianchi et al, 2021). It aids companies by aligning their IT assets and processes with their business objectives (Santos Castellanos, 2020).…”