The scale of investment required for Digital Transformation is significant. In the recent EY/Times Higher Education Report ‘How are you balancing the books for a digital future?’, the scale of investment required was compared by an Australian university to “being the equivalent of spend on one new major building every 5 years”.
We are, therefore, proposing an initial 5-year investment programme of no less than €40m p.a. for IUA universities. Recognising that investment priorities will vary by university; we propose that this funding would be allocated as a Digital Transformation devolved grant. It should be emphasised that this proposed digital investment programme is aligned to the Funding the Future process and assumes the necessary funding will be available to expand staff capacity.