IT Governance in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) is a very important aspect for higher education institutions (HEI) in both teaching, research and administration. The managers of those intuitions are more and more aware that IT is a strategic tool for their institutions. On the other hand, IT Governance is getting attention from the practitioner and research side, given the need to govern IT extending the organisation's strategy and objectives into IT. IT Governance helps to set clear expectations, to gain participation, open communications, establish accountability and provide executive management oversight. Thus, it is important to consider IT Governance and the alignment with business strategy for HEI. In this article, authors present a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on IT Governance in HEIs using a collection of scientific and non-conventional data (grey literature). The motivation that drives this literature review is the further development of an IT Governance framework for Tunisian universities. This article aims to define the situation of the IT Governance in other countries. This article aims to provide a map of the state of the art of IT governance in HEI in various countries. Results show a mixed situation of IT Governance in HEIs. Some countries have the support of top level management to introduce IT Governance in HEIs by adopting regulatory frameworks and common laws. But other countries relay in their strong culture of IT Governance. The different case studies presented in this review show that there is no consensus on the IT Governance framework or standard to use in HEI. An important number of institutions are implementing COBIT or ISO best practices. In the other hand, some counties have developed their own frameworks. Results show there is no a single way to implement an IT Governance framework designed for HEI. However, it is also true that there are two mandatory aspects that are necessary to implement in IT Governance deployments: firstly, establishing a committee structure for IT assets and secondly, enable effective communication between the IT, the business and the stakeholders.