Program

Today’s IT world is a world of the cloud and the use of solutions in a service model. Once the cloud was treated as avant-garde and raised concerns about security. Today it is a standard confirmed and used by major Polish universities and the Ministry of Education and Science itself (e.g. within POL-on and PBN systems). It is hard to imagine that for new IT solutions cloud is not the first, and sometimes the only, choice to launch. But what about previous solutions? How can the process of migration to the cloud be done most time and cost effectively? How is the management of IT systems changing in the cloud? Whether and how to use the biggest advantages of cloud solutions: scalability, security and cost optimization? How to use the standard and still stand out in the market? These and other questions will be answered by an excellent group of panelists: Barbara Michalska (Education Director, Microsoft Poland), Tomasz Stojek (Technical Services Director, Senetic) and Dr Krzysztof Wojewodzic (CEO, ESCOLA S.A.), in a discussion moderated by Tomasz Buczak (CTO, PCG Academia).

The scientific information can be used in various different contexts – from the national scientific evaluation, to international benchmarking and university rankings. Regardless of the context, the quality and completeness of scientific data, are the key determinants of the university’s success. During the panel, we will follow the data as it “travels” from the university scientific information management systems (Sciencecloud), to international science benchmarking engines (Scopus, SciVal), from where the data is pulled to the Times Higher Education database, where after standardization and analysis it used for the purpose of creating university rankings. The partners of the panel – PCG Academia, Elsevier and Times Higher Education, will discuss how the data is used and analyzed at the different stages of its journey and what activities the Parties undertake – individually and collaboratively, to ensure that the scientific data is coherent, complete and reliable.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated the digital transformation process at universities. Some technological solutions – e.g. electronic workflow systems and distance learning platforms – hitherto little present in the daily life of universities, have become essential to ensure the continuity of their operations. This applies to solutions in the area of both management and education. The report entitled “Higher Education and Technologies” prepared jointly by Wolters Kluwer and Polish Rectors Foundation answers the question how the pandemic affected the IT infrastructure and software used at universities. It examines what the IT infrastructure of universities were like in spring 2020 and how it has evolved to date. The report also shows how universities have dealt with the challenges of the over one-year-lasting lockdown and, more importantly, what challenges still lie ahead.

Over the last decade, Polish universities have made a huge step towards digitalization of the document workflow process. A number of systems have been implemented, such as student information systems, finance and accounting systems, recruitment systems, and CRM systems, in which universities collect a huge amount of data on student and administrative matters. The first applications of electronic signatures have emerged, and non-profit organizations, notably the Deans’ Forum Association, are moderating the debate on the transition of the university’s workflow to a fully electronic one.

Despite all these efforts, it has still not been possible to eliminate paper as a mandatory part of the student and administrative documentation workflow, which in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be quite a challenge for universities across the country. What formal, organizational and IT challenges stand in the way of a ‘paperless university’? Do we have ideas to overcome them?

The discussion on this topic will be attended by: a representative of Deans’ Forum Association, the largest organization in Poland associating administrative staff of universities, a representative of KIR, which is a provider of electronic signatures widely used in public administration, and a representative of WEBCON – a leader in workflow systems and process automation in universities.

The cloud transformation of enterprises is accelerating, and the pandemic is an additional catalyst for this process. There is a very high demand in the labour market for specialists in cloud computing – not only engineers, but also data analysts. We also need future specialists in various fields among our university graduates to help guide companies and employees through this change in the best possible way. Universities can use the available cloud solutions both to support their students and to operate even more efficiently. Google Cloud can strongly support universities in this process with both its products and dedicated student education programmes.

HEIs in Poland and abroad have been using IT solutions to support education for many years, and their adoption increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few universities make full use of the potential of these tools in terms of making communication between students and lecturers more coherent, effectively supporting the teaching process or linking the verification of learning outcomes with introducing the student to the labour market.

LMS platforms, in Poland referred to as e-learning platforms, because that is their main use, can have a much wider application as basic tools for organizing the teaching process. The examination systems integrated with them may, in turn, support the process of the learning outcomes verification in a standardized and high-quality manner, regardless of whether the exams are conducted remotely or on the university campus.

In this session, we will present practical case studies of three universities which have managed to unlock the full potential of tools supporting education and electronic examinations. We will ask about the strategy adopted, its results and impact on the competitiveness of these entities on the international education market.

Highly developed education markets, such as the American, British and Australian ones, created a demand for very specialized platforms supporting various aspects of distance learning years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, these systems are characterized by high maturity, as well as a high level of adoption and use by end users – especially in well-computerized universities, aspiring to be at the top of national and international rankings. In these institutions, the pandemic merely redirected the entire process of educating students to the Internet, to IT tools that were already well known to students and educators.

PCG Academia is currently working with four global technology providers for universities, all of whom cooperate with Amazon Web Services – a leader in cloud services for educational institutions around the world. During the panel, representatives of these companies will talk about the changes that, from their perspective, have occurred in the higher education sector in response to the pandemic and the impact they will have on the further development and strategic priorities of universities. They will also present examples of universities that have benefited from cloud-based solutions in terms of increased quality of education, student recruitment and retention, and operational efficiency.