Exploring security, risk, and compliance driven IT governance model for universities: applied research based on the COBIT framework

Abstract

Information technology is the backbone of universities' operations which is leveraged to achieve the institutions' strategic visions. Universities are complex organisations and their complexity does not rely solely in their technical infrastructure but also their unique organisational structure and culture which requires a special scheme for governing and managing their IT resources. Designing the best-fit IT governance scheme is considered a very challenging endeavour. Several IT governance frameworks have been introduced to help organisations in understanding, designing and implementing IT governance and management practices. In this study we adopted the COBIT framework to design a security, risk, and compliance driven IT governance model for universities. After the model construction, the main factors that may affect the success of IT governance in universities found in the literature were mapped with COBIT governance and management objectives.