Identifying agility enablers in context of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Conceptual framework

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) must be agile to keep up the sustainable growth in the midst of increased competition and shifting skill set requirements. In this dynamic environment, when it comes to implementing agility at HEIs, it requires adjustments in processes and resources used to fit their context, and we have tried to understand this phenomenon through our research. The purpose of this research paper is to understand the facilitators of agility in higher education institutions to maintain competitiveness and achieve teaching & research excellence. This study used a qualitative approach to explore the concept of agility in the context of higher education institutions. In-depth, telephone interviews with subject academic experts were employed for the study. Through our research, we noticed that there are four important enablers of agility in HEIs. We identified internationalisation, society-industry interaction, and technological integration as enablers that are required to achieve agility in HEIs to remain competitive. This helped us gain a multidimensional view of ‘agility’ by using the lens of sense & response framework to analyse it. Therefore, we recommend the enablers based on a conceptual framework to support the dynamic requirements of HEIs. The study highlights the need for integration of all enablers sensed from the environment through qualitative study with the HEI’s responding capabilities.