2025 EDUCAUSE Top 10
#10 (tie): Supportable, Sustainable, and Affordable

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In the rapidly evolving higher education landscape, institutions face the critical challenge of implementing new technologies in ways that are supportable, sustainable, and affordable. This balancing act is not just a matter of keeping up with the latest trends; it's crucial for institutions to remain competitive, improve student and staff experiences, and adapt to changing educational paradigms. Declining public trust and the enrollment cliff have heightened the urgency for institutions to develop comprehensive strategies for business model innovation and technology adoption.

The Promise

Increasing affordability. Higher education is expensive. An institutional strategy for technology-fueled innovation could help by focusing on lowering administrative costs, reducing technology redundancy, and improving the impact of technology investments.

Improving the reputation of higher education. Improved sustainability could help reverse higher education's reputational slide. Environmental sustainability is much more important to Gen Z and Millennials than it is to older generations. Institutions that incorporate sustainability goals into their technology strategy as part of a green agenda could have a recruiting advantage: Younger people are more likely to use products and services from companies and organizations that express and honor a substantive commitment to environmentally sustainable business practices.^Footnote1

Becoming more competitive. Competition in postsecondary education and lifelong learning is increasing. Institutions that can change quickly and innovate more effectively will be able to adapt agilely to changing circumstances and needs and to new opportunities. They will be able to transcend higher education's reputation for slow, reluctant change. How do we create an institution that allows learners to learn the way they want to?

Leveraging AI. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is absorbing everyone's attention. AI will change everything. It's just not clear how, and these are still early days. Leaders at many institutions recognize the importance of gaining experience with AI and using that experience to incorporate possible AI-infused futures into the institutional vision and strategic planning. Leaders will also need to reconcile the high levels of energy required to power AI with the sustainability goals of the institution.

Modernizing higher education. Higher education leaders still too often run institutional services and missions as if students and faculty are captive audiences willing to tolerate cumbersome procedures and outdated working and learning environments. Institutions need to provide an environment of services, experiences, and products on par with the external world, enabling faculty to do cutting-edge research and giving students learning experiences that can directly translate to contemporary digital experiences.

The Key to Progress

Executive leaders with mutually trusting relationships who are committed to the institutional values can make all the difference. Innovation is hard and disruptive work. Strong, cohesive, and collaborative leadership can reduce friction, contribute essential skills and capabilities, encourage constructive critical conversations, and demonstrate a unified commitment to successful innovation. Digital is no longer an add-on; however, building and maintaining trust with the digital team continues to challenge the ability of an institution to really deliver on the digital value promise.

QuickTakes

Establish a strategic innovation process that incorporates technology. Technology strategy and innovation go hand-in-hand with institutional strategy and innovation. Technology can both serve and influence the vision and priorities of the institution because it brings new possibilities and pathways. Strategic innovation needs to be shaped by senior business, academic, and technology leaders. The innovation process should be informed by a holistic long-term approach to technology investments that is tied to a digital master plan and is compatible with enterprise architecture. The process should ensure innovations contribute to operational outcomes, such as cost reduction or optimization, availability, reliability, and sustainability, as well as strategic outcomes.

Be willing to make tough choices. Resources are finite. At some institutions, resources are considerably limited. Leaders need to be willing to make tradeoffs—do one thing instead of another or end something to create something new—for the welfare of the institution. "Both/ands" are delightful but not always possible. Being trusted to make tough decisions is critical.

Focus. Making tough choices is only the start. Leaders need to maintain commitments. They need to avoid letting themselves or their staff get distracted by work that strays from the critical path or start something new before the project at hand is finished. Emergencies happen, but after the crisis has been contained, leaders need to bring the focus back to work that advances the institutional vision and positions it for the future.

Be realistic. Don't overengineer solutions, get lost in weedy details, or otherwise focus on perfection at the expense of good, focused outcomes. Strategy and planning are important, but they must lead to execution and outcomes.

Prioritize change management. Everyone knows the importance of change management, but many institutions nonetheless focus on planning and implementation at the expense of coalition-building, communication, training, documentation, and deployment. Part of change management is understanding organizational readiness and capacity for change, and the pace at which adoption is realistically possible.

Take advantage of a crisis. The pandemic was awful, but it enabled leaders to complete in months projects that previously would have taken years (or not been possible at all). Crises mobilize and focus people. They cut through resistance. Many institutions are facing financial crises that may be existential. Leaders who can use an emergency to mobilize and motivate without paralyzing and alienating can help their institutions achieve lasting transformation and do so at a reasonably rapid pace.

Explore a product management approach. As a sector, higher education has embraced things like service management. While this approach may have started in IT departments, more and more institutions are adopting an enterprise service management approach.^Footnote2 That is a solid service-centric way to view delivery and is great for transactional activities covering anything from accounts payable to pastoral care support. Some institutions are taking this a step further and are restructuring (sometimes just their digital function, but potentially wider restructuring) to better align the organizational structure with the international Higher Education Reference Models (HERM). This means defining the products within the capability model, aligning resources to each product, and moving away from the traditional way of grouping like-minded professionals together. For example, instead of having an enterprise applications team with a wide range of skills, an institution might organize staff according to a product family (e.g., teaching and learning). When offerings can be defined as products, the products can be designed and delivered in ways that better align with the aspiration of the product owner(s) and therefore match the desired agility for new technology investments, pilots, policies, and uses.

Partner with "consumer" capabilities. Innovation doesn't need to mean homegrown. How can institutions weave what is already available and well utilized into their solutions? Using consumer-oriented products and building digital ecosystems in partnership can be less costly, while providing a familiar and inclusive experience. New features and other innovations can be taken advantage of quickly and easily and do not need to be "trained" to gain value. The value in any digital solution cannot be realized unless it is adopted and used. Reducing or removing barriers to adoption and use is critical. Enabling a much more digital savvy cohort, be they students or staff, should be a focus.

Ask Yourself

Can institutions overcome change fatigue to implement these strategies? Referencing the rapid changes during the coronavirus pandemic, one panelist wondered, "Are we ever going to see that scale of change supported by our staff and our students ever again?"

The Bottom Line

Developing a supportable, sustainable, and affordable technology strategy is a necessity for thriving in the digital age. While the challenges, ranging from change fatigue to complex institutional politics, are significant, the potential benefits—a more affordable, inclusive, and innovative higher education sector—are transformative.

Data Point

Institutions engaged in AI-related strategic planning are motivated by multiple factors. More than half of respondents to the 2024 EDUCAUSE AI Landscape study survey reported that their institution’s AI-related strategic plan was motivated by five factors: the rise of student use of AI in their courses, risks of inappropriate uses of AI technologies, concern about "falling behind" in adopting AI technologies, faculty enthusiasm for AI, and institutional leadership interest in AI (see figure 1).^Footnote3

From Strategy to Practice

What You're Saying

"We need to think strategically about where we spend our time, money, and resources. We can't do it all and need to be thoughtful about our investments. IT governance needs to get stronger, and university leadership needs to understand the cost of implementing and supporting new technologies and applications."

"We have not operated as a system with either a data strategy or a comprehensive technology plan, and recent changes/upgrades have underlined the need for one."

"Keeping costs down translates to enrollment."

"It is critical to prioritize funds while also using expensive resources responsibly. We are stretching dollars now more than ever due to competing priorities and mandatory updates. Between data security, generative AI, student expectations, and supporting research, it is critical to develop a strategy that is sustainable and manages costs."

"Yes, ongoing funding has historically been an afterthought in many organizations, and that must change if we are to remain relevant beyond our current positions and assignments."

"This is on our radar but not getting as much focus right now."

"Collaboration is key."

"I think the most important part of this has to do with policies and governance strategies for the use of new technologies (AI and others). We must be intentional about our investments, but without policies and governance, such investments will be ineffective."

"This is a constant struggle, and we're working through it."

"This is tricky due to lack of funding. Most work is organic."

Solution Spotlights

"To achieve our sustainability goals, we are working closely with facilities services and our central and distributed IT teams to find ways to develop and implement smart campus capabilities which will have a lasting impact on our physical and digital spaces."

Gayleen Gray, McMaster University

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"In response to the need for an affordable and predictable IT investment strategy, we are developing a five-year roadmap using a TCO (total cost of ownership) model. This roadmap will result from evaluating our technology stack and industry changes, consulting with campus partners, and validating assumptions with university leaders. This will be a tool we can use to communicate with stakeholders across the institution about our priorities and the strategic alignment."

Anna Vakulick, The George Washington University

What You're Working On

Comments provided by Top 10 survey respondents who rated this issue as important

AI strategy

• Our CIO established an AI steering group to bridge the gaps between divisions and develop an institution-wide strategy. Teaching and learning has led the way so far, and now we are at a point where we can investigate enterprise options and develop a holistic strategy.
• Rewriting policies to handle new data governance for new regulations and AI usage across the organization. Buying new SaaS to help automate and make day-to-day operations more effective.
• Establishing AI policies.

Cost management

• Moving past all in IPEDS-based licensing to embrace fine-grained consumption-based pricing. (It's OK to pay for services by the hour/form filled etc.)

Digital learning strategy

• The university is at a critical juncture in terms of educational technology. The return to campus has seen a normalization of edtech use and a slight decline in digital teaching and learning, with digital examination being a notable exception. Annual surveys reveal a renewed interest in digital education, particularly for serving the lifelong learners and re-orientators through part-time or remote learning. There is a growing demand for edtech in lifelong learning, and the university is preparing for a new procurement process for its digital learning environment. Both explicit and implicit support requests highlight the need for a clear digital education strategy. Therefore, the development of a digital learning strategy is crucial to meet these needs, reduce dropout rates, foster community building, and guide the future evolution of digital education.
• Strengthen governance practices for student and academic technologies.

Expanding access

• The university is an access university, meaning that our mission is to enable access to higher education. Increasingly finite resources make this is challenging. We see new capabilities, such as personalized education through emerging technologies, as a key enabler to that outcome. We see targeted investments into these technologies as an important path to supportable, sustainable, and affordability education for all.

Implementation management

• My work involves "operationalizing" services after we've gotten beyond the exploring and experimenting phases.

Institutional strategy

• We're developing a strategic vision for next eleven years. This will support our new vision statement. A technology strategic plan will follow the university strategic plan.

IT governance

• Work with faculty, students, and staff to embrace shared governance, with sufficient communication, collaboration, and partnership.
• The VPs and our IT advisory group are helping to establish our priorities and technology investments.
• Maintaining IT budgets and information security investment.
• We recently reconstituted a data governance committee charged with establishing and enforcing policies, standards, and procedures to ensure the quality, security, and effective management of the university's data assets. These structures and procedures will ensure intentional decision-making about prioritizing administrative systems initiatives, monitor the information security strategy for the university, and institute diligence and accountability around institutional data. The committee's primary objectives are to ensure that investments in data and administrative systems align with institutional strategic priorities and enable reliable data-informed decision-making for core business functions and academic planning. The committee is co-chaired by the CIO and director of institutional research and is composed of members that represent departments across the university and are responsible for their area's data needs, IT infrastructure, or related issues.
• Taking a more active leadership role and established an innovation governance structure.
• Our AI task force and technology committee are working on these things. We have a plan in place for a total refresh of our Wi-Fi infrastructure, our servers will be replaced in two years, and our phone system will be replaced in three years. These projects will be widely researched before we embark on them. Institutional resources are in place for when we need them.
• Global input from leadership and staff on methods in place and those that need adopting.

IT policies

• Review and enhancement of all IT policies. Hired a new policy manager.

IT strategy

• As a public university with a limited annual budget and EU funding opportunities that arise roughly every five years, we need to maintain an updated investment plan with clear prioritization and a focus on building upon well-tested solutions through pilot comparisons. When it comes to sustainability, the main challenge is to secure the necessary IT staff with the right skills.
• Multiyear technology initiatives are being deployed across the university to enhance the technology policies and build procedures and standards; sustainable technology investments to refresh aging infrastructure.
• We have a goal to be on the leading edge of technology innovations and apply new offerings from company strategic partners.

Specific technology

• We are excited to explore the possibility of establishing a VR lab. This would allow faculty and staff to augment the educational experience through hands-on virtual labs.
• This is active activity especially in the realm of AI and XR.
• Investing in a virtual environment in Windows Azure network to provide VDI access on campus.
• ERP conversion.

Notes

1. Johnny Wood, "Gen Z Cares About Sustainability More Than Anyone Else—and Is Starting to Make Others Feel the Same," World Economic Forum, March 18, 2022. Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.↩
2. Siddharth Shetty et al., 3 Keys to Enterprise Service Management Success, research report, (Gartner, October 2023). Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.↩
3. Jenay Robert, 2024 EDUCAUSE AI Landscape Study, research report, (EDUCAUSE, February 2024). Jump back to footnote 3 in the text.↩

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Vito Forte is Director & Chief Information Officer at Edith Cowan University and CAUDIT Vice President.

Mark Johnston is Director of IT at University of Glasgow.

Michele Norin is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Rutgers University.

Lisa Trubitt is Assistant Chief Information Officer for Strategic Communications at University at Albany, SUNY.

Christa Winqvist is Chief Information Officer at Aalto University.