Digital Transformation in Higher Education Management
Project lead: Dr. Ilse Hagerer
Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project description
The project “Digital transformation in higher education management: Organizational learning and IT governance” starts in spring 2026.
New digital technologies, processes, and business models increase the demands on organizational learning capabilities. While higher education institutions, as research institutions, are drivers of innovation, they often lag technologically behind in their organizational processes. According to recent studies, this is particularly the case in German universities. Despite extensive research on barriers to digital transformation in teaching and learning, it remains unclear why management in German universities acts reluctantly in overcoming barriers and adopting technology-driven changes.
We aim to analyze digital transformation processes in the management of German universities and their interrelations with organizational learning. As digital transformation is interwoven with advances in digital technologies, it is important to understand its organizational embedding in the IT governance of the university. German university organizations can be characterized by informal actions that play a crucial role in organizational change processes. Hence, we focus on individual perceptions, actions, and their interplay with structural changes and also consider internal and external contextual factors. With the example of European University Alliances, we study external triggers on internal adjustment of processes and actions for interoperability of IT infrastructures. So, we investigate the absorptive capacity of German universities, i.e., their ability to cope with environmental influences and how it is reflected in individual perceptions, actions, and IT governance.
The project runs in cooperation with the University of Bremen and is hosted by the Chair of Research and Science Management (Prof. Dr. Claudia Peus).
Research team
Dr. Ilse Hagerer (TUM) – PI and scientific project management
Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter (University of Bremen) - PI and scientific project management
Please contact Dr. Ilse Hagerer if you would like to learn more about this project and ways to participate as an individual, team, or organization, e.g.:
- for higher education managers by providing your expertise in higher education management through an expert interview,
- or for students by writing your thesis, doing a project study, or working as a student assistant.
