Speaker
Description
Across the world, the digital transformation of higher education is accelerating—but not necessarily in ways that benefit institutions or students. In the US, commercial platforms dominate, embedding vendor lock-in into the core of learning infrastructures. China takes a centralized, government-driven approach, consolidating education under state-controlled digital platforms. India is rapidly scaling government-backed digital universities, while the Global South struggles with dependencies on external platforms, creating long-term vulnerabilities.
In Europe, we face a choice. The Competitiveness Compass and Union of Skills initiatives aim to strengthen Europe’s digital position, but policy alone isn’t enough. Universities must take an active role in shaping their own digital ecosystem, ensuring that technology serves education—not the other way around.
This talk will cut through the buzzwords of digital transformation and focus on the real question: who controls the future of higher education’s digital infrastructure? Using examples from the EduXS project and the Digital Education Hub’s interoperability work, it will illustrate how universities can reclaim their digital sovereignty through open standards, interoperability, and collective governance.
This is a call to action: if institutions don’t set their own agenda, someone else will do it for them. And we as NRENs are there to help.
