Digitalised higher education: key developments, questions, and concerns

Janja Komljenovic; Kean Birch; Sam Sellar; Annika Bergviken Rensfeldt; Joe Deville; Charlie Eaton; Lesley Gourlay; Morten Hansen; Niels Kerssens; Anne Kovalainen; Pier Luc Nappert; Joe Noteboom; Lluis Parcerisa; Juan Pable Pardo-Guerra; Seppo Poutanen; Susan Robertson; David Tyfield; Ben Williamson

doi:10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397

Digitalised higher education: key developments, questions, and concerns

Janja Komljenovic^*, Kean Birch, Sam Sellar, Annika Bergviken Rensfeldt, Joe Deville, Charlie Eaton, Lesley Gourlay, Morten Hansen, Niels Kerssens, Anne Kovalainen, Pier Luc Nappert, Joe Noteboom, Lluis Parcerisa, Juan Pable Pardo-Guerra, Seppo Poutanen, Susan Robertson, David Tyfield, Ben Williamson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Digital Humanities

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Higher education is already profoundly digitalised. Students, academics, and university administrators routinely use digital technologies, many of which rely on data, including artificial intelligence. Universities aim to operate as data-powered organisations to support institutional efficiency and the personalisation of learning and student experience. These developments are occurring against the backdrop of university digital infrastructure moving to the cloud and the increasing role of ‘Big Tech’ in the sector. However, there are many unknowns about the aggregate impact of digitalisation on the sector, and hence, questions about potential risks and harms remain unanswered. Our approach in this collective piece is to reflect on particularly relevant and impactful dynamics of higher education digitalisation. We first identify assetisation as an emergent mode of governance linked to the digitalisation of HE, which brings new temporal, relational, and lock-in challenges for universities and their constituents. Second, we examine the macro-level structural transformation of higher education with the increasing role of Big Tech and Big EdTech. We conclude by discussing the consequences of the identified macro power dynamics.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	276-292
Number of pages	17
Journal	Discourse
Volume	46
Issue number	2
Early online date	25 Sept 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397 https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397
Publication status	Published - 2025

Keywords

assetisation
Big Tech
digitalisation
EdTech
Higher education

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Digitalised higher education_KOMLJENOVIC_Publishedonline25September2024_GOLD_VoR (CC BY)Final published version, 801 KBLicence: CC BY

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Komljenovic, J., Birch, K., Sellar, S., Bergviken Rensfeldt, A., Deville, J., Eaton, C., Gourlay, L., Hansen, M., Kerssens, N., Kovalainen, A., Nappert, P. L., Noteboom, J., Parcerisa, L., Pardo-Guerra, J. P., Poutanen, S., Robertson, S., Tyfield, D., & Williamson, B. (2025). Digitalised higher education: key developments, questions, and concerns. Discourse, 46(2), 276-292. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397, https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397

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abstract = "Higher education is already profoundly digitalised. Students, academics, and university administrators routinely use digital technologies, many of which rely on data, including artificial intelligence. Universities aim to operate as data-powered organisations to support institutional efficiency and the personalisation of learning and student experience. These developments are occurring against the backdrop of university digital infrastructure moving to the cloud and the increasing role of {\textquoteleft}Big Tech{\textquoteright} in the sector. However, there are many unknowns about the aggregate impact of digitalisation on the sector, and hence, questions about potential risks and harms remain unanswered. Our approach in this collective piece is to reflect on particularly relevant and impactful dynamics of higher education digitalisation. We first identify assetisation as an emergent mode of governance linked to the digitalisation of HE, which brings new temporal, relational, and lock-in challenges for universities and their constituents. Second, we examine the macro-level structural transformation of higher education with the increasing role of Big Tech and Big EdTech. We conclude by discussing the consequences of the identified macro power dynamics.",

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year = "2025",

doi = "10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397",

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Komljenovic, J, Birch, K, Sellar, S, Bergviken Rensfeldt, A, Deville, J, Eaton, C, Gourlay, L, Hansen, M, Kerssens, N, Kovalainen, A, Nappert, PL, Noteboom, J, Parcerisa, L, Pardo-Guerra, JP, Poutanen, S, Robertson, S, Tyfield, D & Williamson, B 2025, 'Digitalised higher education: key developments, questions, and concerns', Discourse, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 276-292. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397, https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397

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AU - Deville, Joe

AU - Eaton, Charlie

AU - Gourlay, Lesley

AU - Hansen, Morten

AU - Kerssens, Niels

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AU - Nappert, Pier Luc

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AU - Pardo-Guerra, Juan Pable

AU - Poutanen, Seppo

AU - Robertson, Susan

AU - Tyfield, David

AU - Williamson, Ben

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Digitalised higher education: key developments, questions, and concerns

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Keywords

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