Digital transformation is impacting higher education through improved inclusiveness, efficiency, and scale. It allows for borderless and decentralized education delivery at an accelerated speed and lower cost. While the changes may be initially painful financially and require behavioral adaptation, institutions that embrace digital transformation will see benefits like enhanced collaboration, transparency, and opportunities for value creation through new business models. The fast adoption of technologies like AI, blockchain, and online platforms will reshape how universities provide education globally.

1. THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON
TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION
SECTOR
Dr Nyankomo Marwa

2. • About myself
Director for Policy,
Research and Planning
MSc Applied Statistics &
Biostatistics - Belgium
Wharton Business School /GSB –
Housing Finance
Over 8 Years in academics
Post Doctoral Fellow,
Canada
BSc Agricultural Economics
and Agribusiness , Tanzania
Aalto Business School. Doctoral Summer
School – Efficiency and Productivity
Analysis
6 years in Forensic Science
PhD in Development
Finance - USB
High School : PCB
Secondary School : Science
African Doctoral Academy : Case Studies
Research Methods ; Doctoral Supervision
Part time farmer and
Investor in Real Estate,
Stock Market , Agribusiness
PhD ABD Public Policy,
Canada, MSc Agricultural
Economics - USA
Doctoral Scholar , SU
Merit Based Scholarship,
USB Scholarship
AERC , DAAD, REPOA , Regent ,
RBC Research Chair , Tanzanian GVT
Scholarship
Fulbright , BTC , Nixen
Fellowship , Siemens,
MITACS, SSSCHRC ,

3. Structure of the Talk
• Digital Transformation
• Higher Education
• Business Model Innovation
• Impact of DT on HE
• Conclusion
3

4. Key Take Home
• Impact of Digital Transformation in HE
– Inclusiveness
– Efficiency
– Scale, Borderless
– Transparency, Speed
– Collaboration, aggregation and cherry picking
– Value creation, value capture and distribution
– Decentralized
– Painful initially (Financially and Behavioral Change)
4

5. About myself
Director for Policy,
Research and
Planning
MSc Applied Statistics
& Biostatistics -
Belgium
Wharton Business School /GSB –
Housing Finance
Over 8 Years in
academics
Post Doctoral Fellow,
Canada
BSc Agricultural
Economics and
Agribusiness , Tanzania
Aalto Business School. Doctoral
Summer School – Efficiency and
Productivity Analysis
6 years in Forensic
Science
PhD in Development
Finance - USB
High School : PCB
Secondary School :
Science
African Doctoral Academy : Case
Studies Research Methods ; Doctoral
Supervision
Part time farmer and
Investor in Real Estate,
Stock Market ,
Agribusiness
PhD ABD Public
Policy, Canada, MSc
Agricultural
Economics - USA
Doctoral Scholar , SU
Merit Based
Scholarship, USB
Scholarship
AERC , DAAD, REPOA , Regent
,
RBC Research Chair , Tanzanian
GVT Scholarship
Fulbright , BTC ,
Nixen Fellowship ,
Siemens, MITACS,
SSSCHRC ,

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. Digital Transformation
• DT is a process of using digital technologies to create new
— or modify existing — business processes, culture, and
customer experiences to meet changing business and market
requirements.
• Digital transformation helps to maintain a competitive edge.
• Recently there has been an exponential increase in learning
options to choose from among leaners.
• Institutions need to become more flexible, affordable and
accessible to meet increasing consumer and environmental
pressures.
9

10. What is Higher Education
• Is post secondary education with a broad and conflicting objectives
across country and among higher educations institutions (CHE,
2013).
• I will settle with the following objectives for HE
– Produce, disseminate and preserve useful knowledge for society,
– Provide an education for the individual enrichment of students,
– Provide work-ready graduates to build the economy (CHE, 2013;
Barnet, 1992)
• Tensions between these aims go beyond those of time and resources
and reveal significant differences in values
• Hence efficiency is a critical ingredient for successful HE system
10

11. Business Model Innovation
• A business model is a strategy which outlines how a business or
organization delivers value to its customers.
• Business model provides information about an organization’s target
market, that market’s need, and the role that the business’s products
or services will play in meeting those needs.
• Business model innovation, describes the process in which an
organization adjusts its business model.
• Such innovation reflects a fundamental change in how a company
delivers value to its customers, whether that’s through the
development of new revenue streams or distribution channels.
11

12. The Innovation in the Business Model

13. 13

14. Technology Adoption Theory
14

15. Technological Adoption Rate

16. Adoption Rate in Crypto is 2X faster than Internet
Adoption at the Same Stage

17. Sheila Warren of the World Economic Forum on the 4th
Industrial Revolution (2021)

18. 18

19. Impact of DT on HE
• DT unlocks efficiency, speed, transparency and
trust which is relatively superior to the current
business model
• It improves Scale, Affordability, Agility and
Flexibility
• It broadens outreach (breadth and depth)
• It unlocks automation e.g Grading and Teaching
BOT
19

20. Trending Platforms in HE
• Zoom, MSTEAM
• YouTube
• Udemy
• Bitdegree
20

21. 4IR Technology Suite
• Block chain
• AI
• IOT
• Big data
• 3D printing
• Robotics
• Genomics
• 5G
21

22. 22

23. 23

26. 26

27. Conclusion
• Digital Transformation is here to stay.
• The fast movers will reap the most of the benefit.
• Its impacts is far reaching and wide across higher
education sector .
• Impact of Digital Transformation in HE
– Inclusiveness, Efficiency, Scale, Cost Effective
– Borderless, Transparency , Speed
– Collaboration, aggregation and cherry picking
– Value creation, value capture and value distribution
– Decentralized and autonomous governance systems
– Painful initially (Financially and Behavioral Change)
27