University IT Departments ‘Failing’ Students

New research suggests UK universities are struggling to meet the increasing demands of their students, despite widespread belief that better technology leads to higher academic achievement.

A survey of IT heads at 150 universities found that departments are slow to react to the rise of mobility, social media and the use of consumer cloud services like Dropbox and entertainment services like Spotify.

A fifth of respondents felt their infrastructure was inadequate and only 27 percent of department heads felt their institutions’ IT departments were supporting students’ needs.

Tech issues

Concerns about the quality of Internet in halls of residence and in university buildings were among the most prevalent, with just 12 percent of universities offering campus-wide Wi-Fi, although 22 percent plan to improve their wireless infrastructure.

Despite the increased use of smartphones and tablets on campus, just 12 percent of universities fully embrace student mobility and only 13 percent have plans to support it in the future. Similarly, just six percent of institutions provide online lectures and only seven percent allow students to contact lecturers online.

“While there are universities in the UK doing great things with their IT infrastructures, in many cases it’s clear that the technology offered continues to lag behind expectations of students and IT staff,” said Andy Tait, head of public sector strategy, VMware. “With more competition than ever to entice students, there’s a massive opportunity for institutions to make themselves more attractive through better IT.”

Strong pull factor

However despite these shortfalls, nearly all universities the quality of IT was a major factor in attracting students. A separate study among students appeared to confirm this, with 95 percent stating that better technology would improve their campus experience while 34 percent would be prepared to pay more in tuition fees if it was to be spent on better IT.

A survey by Accenture last year found that 83 percent of prospective students believed a university’s digital capabilities, such as virtual coursework and online classes, were a key deciding factor when comparing institutions.

Simon Harrison, chief information officer at Kingston University said the results of the VMware survey were “shocking” and that IT played a vital role in his institution’s operations.

“Technology is absolutely essential for both attracting students and in providing them with the best possible academic experience,” he said. “We strongly believe that universities have to constantly evolve their entire technology offerings, from infrastructure to networking, as well as the applications they make available, in order to remain competitive and to meet the expectations of new and prospective students.”

He added that Kingston supports BYOD and offers 3D applications and virtual learning environments that can be accessed on any device and any location.

“Having simple things such as pervasive campus-wide Wi-Fi also provides essential connections to friends and family, and optimum network performance enables us to have reliable and fast Wi-Fi for lectures, helping us increase collaboration and the speed of learning.”

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