Education leaders in Asia say they need to be digital to grow

87% of leaders in Asia Pacific’s education sector believe that they need to become a digital institution to enable future growth, according to the Microsoft Asia Digital Transformation Study.

The study, which surveyed 1,494 business leaders working in organisations with more than 250 employees from 13 Asia Pacific markets, also found that only 23% of respondents have a full digital strategy in place.

Don Carlson, director for education at Microsoft Asia Pacific, said: “Digital disruption has resulted in a shift in how work is being approached and conducted, and it is important that education institutions transform in order to equip students with future-ready skills, such as honing their creativity and critical thinking capabilities. At Microsoft, we have a specific and nuanced approach to digital transformation in education. We believe this involves transformation in four key pillars – empowering faculty and non-teaching employees, engaging students, optimising institutions and transforming learning, with data and the cloud being the key enablers.”

The study showed that 36% of education leaders are prioritising the first of these pillars, empowering faculty and non-teaching employees.

“Student insights are the new currency for education institutions, and 76% of education leaders agreed that new data insights would lead to new curriculums and learning outcomes. There is a need to rethink how leaders can better capitalise the value of latent data and embrace a different way of bringing together people, data and processes for their digital transformation success,” added Carlson.

The major barrier to digital transformation is cyber threats and security concerns, according to the study. “People don’t use technology that they don’t trust. This is a golden rule that applies to organisations and individuals alike. Ensuring security, privacy, and compliance are key to enabling educational institutions to carry out digital transformation with confidence. As such, protecting sensitive data requires a new and integrated approach, all of which we have invested in significantly,” said Carlson.