Responding to Recession: IT Funding and Cost Management in Higher Education—Roadmap

Abstract

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the study Responding to Recession: IT Funding and Cost Management in Higher Education, by Philip J. Goldstein. The study is an analysis of how the economic recession is impacting information technology (IT) organizations and operations in higher education. The study makes clear that the long-term fiscal pressures institutions will face should increase their interest in using technology to address their most strategic issues. The study was conducted using a variety of research methodologies, including a literature review to further our understanding of higher education’s present and future financial outlook and the methods organizations have employed to reduce their IT costs; a quantitative web-based survey of EDUCAUSE member institutions that was completed by 319 institutions (83.4% of respondents were the institution’s chief information officer or equivalent); qualitative interviews with 20 IT leaders to deepen our understanding of survey findings in critical areas; and an online, real-time Delphi process that solicited the opinions of a panel of experts on how the recession has impacted IT organizations and the potential of technology to transform higher education’s future costs and revenues.

Citation for This Work: Goldstein, Philip J. “Responding to Recession: IT Funding and Cost Management in Higher EducationRoadmap” (Roadmap). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research, June 2010, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.