A new study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) has found that South African universities have had to ramp up their digital transformation ambitions and computing power to accommodate the increase in online learning since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting move towards hybrid learning.

The study, titled ‘Post-Pandemic IT Infrastructure in South African Universities’, also shows that universities will have to adapt their digital transformation strategies, based on key technological shifts, while seeking new ways to invest and consume technology to stay competitive.

South Africa has 25 private universities and over 20 public universities. The universities accommodate more than one-million students, with government planning to increase this to 1.5-million by 2030.

At the onset of the pandemic, the institutions were focused on connectivity and secure access to educational content.

The Dell Technologies- commissioned research highlights that chief information officers (CIOs) in the education sector have reprioritised their technology spending post-pandemic, with information departments now shifting focus to adopting better computing power and storage to handle the vast amounts of data being generated from online learning platforms and learning tools.

“Universities, like most organisations, are undergoing a process of rapid digitalisation and, while there are barriers that need to be considered, CIOs in the education sector need to be empowered to assist universities to transition into the digital area by being in a position to secure grants to gain access to the hardware and storage they require to transition to an advanced hybrid-learning model,” says Dell Technologies South Africa MD Doug Woolley.

IDC sub-Saharan Africa associate VP Mark Walker adds that the insights obtained in the study show the current digital transformation taking place within tertiary education institutions in South Africa.

“There is no doubt that the South African government is encouraging the adoption of technology within institutions, both private and public. CIOs need to motivate for the technology required to move universities forward and to keep students learning and equipped to enter into the working world and contribute to the growth of the economy.”

The findings highlight that CIOs need to reprioritise their technology spending plans in 2021 and beyond by investing in technologies that enable cost savings while maximising business productivity and learning outcomes.

This includes adopting a cloud-first approach to reduce costs and improve efficiency, as well as prioritising security as vulnerability to cyberattacks has increased as the attack surface has expanded.

Another key priority is the urgent need to modernise and automate existing systems and platforms by implementing technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics.

“Only a few use cases exist at the university level. For example, AI is used to enhance the admission process by enabling universities to forecast demand and achieve their target enrolment numbers. The use of AI to deliver classes is yet to gain traction at the university level, although this will likely be a future area of focus,” the report indicates.

Until recently, universities deployed up to 250 server and storage systems in their information technology (IT) infrastructure environments. Server and storage systems are typically deployed in a single datacentre and then split into clusters that run specific applications.

Traditionally, administration departments used about 60% of existing IT infrastructure capacity; however, this is changing as academic departments have shifted to online teaching and so has the level of use.