Top

Education and Information Technologies

Published in:

20-06-2020

Higher education in a material world: Constraints to digital innovation in Portuguese universities and polytechnic institutes

Authors: Paulo Nuno Vicente, Margarida Lucas, Vânia Carlos, Pedro Bem-Haja

Published in: Education and Information Technologies | Issue 6/2020

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Over the past decade, the societal impact of digital transformation, with the prospects of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, has led to an innovation imperative in European policymaking regarding higher education institutions (HEIs). However, not only is the institutional strategic planning of HEIs still understudied, as the individual perceptions of faculty members about existing constraints to digital innovation have been particularly overlooked. This article examines Portuguese universities and polytechnic institutes, the two components of the national higher education system, to (1) characterize the quality of the available digital infrastructure and resources (hardware and software) and (2) identify the main constraints to digital innovation. The study conducts the most comprehensive online questionnaire available to date on these topics across Portuguese HEIs (N = 547). The main constraints to digital innovation correspond to limited infrastructure and resources, lack of funding opportunities, insufficient technological resources, a conservative academic culture, and a lack of technical support. These barriers impact Portuguese regional development, as discussed in this study, highlighting the need for the modernization of HEIs.

previous article The use of E-portfolio for self-reflection to promote learning: a case of TVET students

next article Robotics in the international educational space: Integration and the experience

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Altbach, P. G. (2016). Global perspectives on higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Alves, J., Carvalho, L., Carvalho, R., Correia, F., Cunha, J., Farinha, L., et al. (2015). The impact of polytechnic institutes on the local economy. Tertiary Education and Management, 21(2), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2014.999110.CrossRef

Ávila, L. V., Filho, W. L., Brandli, L., Macgregor, C. J., Molthan-Hill, P., Özuyar, P. G., & Moreira, R. M. (2017). Barriers to innovation and sustainability at universities around the world. Journal of Cleaner Production, 164, 1268–1278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.025.CrossRef

Blaschke, S., Frost, J., & Hattke, F. (2014). Towards a micro foundation of leadership, governance, and management in universities. Higher Education, 68, 711–732. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9740-2.CrossRef

Bond, M., Marín, V. I., Dolch, C., Bedenlier, S., & Zawacki-Richter, O. (2018). Digital transformation in German higher education: Student and teacher perceptions and usage of digital media. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(48). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0130-1.

Brennan, J., Broek, S., Durazzi, N., Kamphuis, B., Ranga, M., & Ryan, S. (2014). Study on innovation in higher education: final report. European Commission Directorate for education and training study on innovation in higher education. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

Brennan, J., Cochrane, A. C., Lebeau, Y., & Williams, R. K. (2018). The university in its place: Social and cultural perspectives on the regional role of universities. Dortrecht: Springer.CrossRef

Caniëls, M., & van den Bosch, H. (2010). The role of higher education institutions in building regional innovation systems. Papers in Regional Science, 90(2), 271–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00344.x.CrossRef

Commission, European. 2018. COM(2018)22 final on the Digital Education Action Plan. In. Brussels: European Comission. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2018:22:FIN

Dias, A., & Gomes, M. J. (2018). A wake-up call for B-learning in Portuguese higher education. In Chova et al. (Eds.), 10th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies: EDULEARN18 (pp. 7944–7954). IATED Academy.

Direção Geral do Ensino Superior (DGES). (2017). Study & research in Portugal. https://www.study-research.pt/en/dashboard/. Accessed March 23 2020.

Direção Geral do Ensino Superior (DGES). (2018). Higher education research and innovation in Portugal: Perspectives for 2030. Lisboa: DGES https://www.dges.gov.pt/sites/default/files/portugal_teri_system_rev_v14fev2018_v3_com_capa-compressed.pdf. Accessed March 23 2020.

European Commission (2014). Higher education institutions (HEIs) as centers of regional development and innovation: ET 2020 working group on modernisation of higher education. https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetailDoc&id=28229&no=5. Accessed March 23 2020.

European Commission. (2018). Communication from the commission to the European Parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee, and the Committee of the Regions on the digital education action plan: COM(2018) 22 final. Brussels: European Commission.

European Higher Education Area (EHAE). (1999). The Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999. http://www.magna-charta.org/resources/files/text-of-the-bologna-declaration. Accessed March 23 2020.

Fernandes, J., Cunha, J., & Oliveira, P. (2013). The socioeconomic impact of an HEI for a local economy. In B. Boufoy-Bastick (Ed.), The international handbook of cultures of education policy (Vol. 1, pp. 557–575). Strasbourg: Analytics.

Ferreira, L. M., & Amaral, L. (2019). Índice Digital Regional 2018 [Regional Digital Index 2018]. Gávea – Observatório da Sociedade da Informação. Guimarães: Universidade do Minho.

Figueiredo, H., Biscaia, R., Rocha, V., & Teixeira, P. (2017). Should we start worrying? Mass higher education, skill demand and the increasingly complex landscape of young graduates’ employment. Studies in Higher Education, 42(8), 1401–1420. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1101754.CrossRef

File, J. (2008). Higher education in Portugal: IHEM country report. Enschede: Center for Higher Education Policy Studies.

Flores, M. A., Brown, G., Pereira, D., Coutinho, C., Santos, P., & Pinheiro, C. (2019). Portuguese university students’ conceptions of assessment: Taking responsibility for achievement. Higher Education, 79, 377–394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00415-2.CrossRef

Fox, R. (2011). Technological practice and change in education. In R. Kwan et al. (Eds.), enhancing learning through technology. education unplugged: Mobile technologies and Web 2.0. ICT 2011. Communications in computer and information science (Vol. 177, pp. 1–7). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22383-9_1.CrossRef

García, L. M., & Roblin, N. P. (2008). Innovation, research, and professional development in higher education: Learning from our own experience. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 104–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.03.007.CrossRef

Governo da República Portuguesa. (2017). Programa nacional para a coesão territorial [National program for territorial cohesion]. https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc21/governo/programa/programa-nacional-para-a-coesao-territorial-/ficheiros-coesao-territorial/programa-nacional-para-a-coesao-territorial-pdf.aspx

Harrison, H. D., & Hargrove, M. J. (2006). Aging faculty: Workforce challenges and issues facing higher education. Business Perspectives, 18(2), 20–25.

Hasanefendic, S., Birkholz, J. M., Horta, H., & van der Sijde, P. (2017). Individuals in action: Bringing about innovation in higher education. European Journal of Higher Education, 7(2), 101–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2017.1296367.CrossRef

Kauko, J., & Diogo, S. (2012). Comparing higher education reforms in Finland and Portugal. Higher Education Management and Policy, 23(3), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1787/17269822.CrossRef

Kezar, A. J. (2018). Asset-based or burden-based views of senior and retired faculty: How values translate into culture and shape practice and policies. New Directions for Higher Education, 182, 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20280.CrossRef

Kezar, A. J., & Eckel, P. D. (2002). The effect of institutional culture on change strategies in higher education: Universal principles or culturally responsive concepts? The Journal of Higher Education, 73(4), 435–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2002.11777159.CrossRef

Kraft, R. H. P. (1971). Technological change and educational obsolescence: Challenges to administrators as managers of change. International Review of Education, 17(3), 309–323. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01421380.CrossRef

Lašáková, A., Bajzíková, L., & Dedze, I. (2017). Barriers and drivers of innovation in higher education: Case study-based evidence across ten European universities. International Journal of Educational Development, 55, 69–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.06.002.CrossRef

Lee, H.-F., & Miozzo, M. (2019). Which types of knowledge-intensive business services firms collaborate with universities for innovation? Research Policy, 48(7), 1633–1646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.03.014.CrossRef

Luehrmann, A. (1989). Technological innovations in higher education: Are they possible? Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 1(1), 117–127. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02942609.CrossRef

Marshall, S. J. (2018a). Financial challenges, constraints, and consequences of funding higher education. In S. J. Marshall (Ed.), Shaping the university of the future (pp. 103–121). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7620-6_5.CrossRef

Marshall, S. J. (2018b). Technology as a catalyst for change. In S. J. Marshall (Ed.), Shaping the University of the Future (pp. 147–166). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7620-6_8.CrossRef

Mesquita, A., & Castilho, O. (2017). Enablers and constrainers of internationalization of higher education institutions: A case study from Portugal. In R. L. Raby & E. J. Valeau (Eds.), Handbook of comparative studies on community colleges and global counterparts (pp. 1–26). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38909-7_17-1.CrossRef

Moodie, G. (2016). Universities, disruptive technologies, and continuity in higher education: The impact of information revolutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US.CrossRef

OECD. (2019). OECD review of higher education, research, and innovation: Portugal. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264308138-en.

Paganelli, A., & Cangemi, J. (2019). Effects of aging faculty. Education, 139(3), 151–157.

Pegkas, P., Staikouras, C., & Tsamadias, C. (2019). Does research and development expenditure impact innovation? Evidence from the European Union countries. Journal of Policy Modeling, 41, 1005–1025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2019.07.001.CrossRef

PORDATA. (2019). Institutions in higher education: total and by type of education. https://www.pordata.pt/en/Municipalities/Institutions+in+higher+education+total+and+by+type+of+education-336

Posselt, T., Abdelkafi, N., Fischer, L., & Tangour, C. (2018). Opportunities and challenges of higher education institutions in Europe: An analysis from a business model perspective. Higher Education Quarterly, 73(1), 100–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12192.CrossRef

Rampelt, F., Suter, R., Orr, D., Hijden, P., & Röwert, R. (2018). Bologna Digital position paper. Berlin: Kiron Open Higher Education https://kiron.ngo/2018/03/27/bolognadigital/.

Razik, T. A., & Nalbone, P. J. (1990). Implications of technological change for higher education reform. Educational Technology Research and Development, 38(1), 65–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02298249.CrossRef

Reichert, S. (2019). The role of universities in regional innovation ecosystems. Brussels. European University Association. https://eua.eu/resources/publications/819:the-role-of-universities-in-regional-innovation-ecosystems.html

Rosario, M. D. (2012). ICT in education policies and national development. In R. Clothey, S. Austin-Li, & J. C. Weidman (Eds.), Post-secondary education and technology: A global perspective on opportunities and obstacles to development (pp. 17–38). New York: Palgrave Macmillan US.CrossRef

Sanderson, R. (2018). When is a leader not a leader? Experiences of programme leadership in a post-92 University. IMPact: The University of Lincoln Journal of Higher Education Research, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.25507/1120189.

Serdyukov, P. (2017). Innovation in education: What works, what doesn’t, and what to do about it? Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 10(1), 4–33.CrossRef

Shoham, S., & Perry, M. (2009). Knowledge management as a mechanism for technological and organizational change management in Israeli universities. Higher Education, 57(2), 227–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9148-y.CrossRef

Smertenko, P., Dimitriev, O., Pochekailova, L., & Cernyshov, L. (2018). Technological transformations and their implications for higher education. In J. Valsiner, A. Lutsenko, & A. Antoniouk (Eds.), Sustainable futures for higher education: The making of knowledge makers (pp. 67–75). Cham: Springer International Publishing.CrossRef

Valero, A., & Reenen, J. V. (2019). The economic impact of universities: Evidence from across the globe. Economics of Education Review, 68, 53–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.09.001.CrossRef

Välimaa, J., & Hoffman, D. (2008). Knowledge society discourse and higher education. Higher Education, 56(3), 265–285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9123-7.CrossRef

Veletsianos, G. (Ed.). (2016). Emergence and innovation in digital learning. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press.

Title: Higher education in a material world: Constraints to digital innovation in Portuguese universities and polytechnic institutes
Authors: Paulo Nuno Vicente
Margarida Lucas
Vânia Carlos
Pedro Bem-Haja
Publication date: 20-06-2020
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Education and Information Technologies / Issue 6/2020
Print ISSN: 1360-2357
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7608
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10258-5

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Other articles of this Issue 6/2020

Correction to: Classroom dialogue and digital technologies: a scoping review

Multimodal data indicators for capturing cognitive, motivational, and emotional learning processes: A systematic literature review

The quest in delivering quality IT services: The case of a higher education institution

Factors enabling the acceptance and use of a podcast aggregator in accounting education

Correction to: Students’ perception and acceptance of web-based technologies: a multi-group PLS analysis in Romania and Spain

The use of E-portfolio for self-reflection to promote learning: a case of TVET students

Premium Partner