Digital Transformation in Higher Education: The UOC Case

ABSTRACT

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19, has boosted the integration of online learning in Higher Education settings (HE), and traditional universities have been forced to adapt to hybrid learning systems. Digital Transformation is a process that must be carried out by universities and requires substantial and strategic changes in all of its processes. This work presents the case of a university created and developed fully online. The experiences of this university can be useful for other institutions that need to follow a similar path. The presented research was developed in the framework of a European project "Empower Competences for Onlife Learning in HE'' (ECOLHE), developed by a consortium of institutions from several European countries. This research applies several data gathering tools such as in-depth interviews with academic government, focus groups involving teachers-researchers, teachers-tutors and administrative staff and an online survey administered to students. In this work, visions on the elements and difficulties of a digital university are presented technology must be a way for the improvement of teaching, research, and knowledge sharing, and the change from a traditional face-to-face setting to an online or hybrid system doesn't consist in only applying digital technologies. In addition, we present some lessons learnt that are useful for the implementation of digital transformation in HE institutions. © 2023, Ibero-American Association for Distance Higher Education (AIESAD). All rights reserved.