ABSTRACT
After the emergence of the higher education (HE) institutions, the higher education system and institutions have experienced various “reformist” periods, starting from ancient times to the present. Nybom (2007) defines these reformist periods at HE institutions as the “HE revolution”. These reformist periods are examined in six major phases1 in the literature. Although the HE institution has its roots in ancient times, William von Humbolt in Germany led the foundation of modern research universities with scientific and organizational autonomy centered on the production of scientific knowledge in the 19th century (Ben-David and Zloczower 1962). For this reason, the periods that Välimaa (2014) expresses as Humbolt and modern research university periods are essential processes that are the continuation of each other. In this period, the number of universities has increased to meet the demand for engineers and scientists, which have increased with the industrial revolution, and universities have started to integrate into the industrial economy (Bates 2010). Thus, as the number of university graduates increased, the demand for universities increased rapidly, and HE has started to turn into a mass system. By the end of the 20th century, especially in developed and developing nations, it has been accepted that HE plays a key role in the growth of national economies with the emerging of the “knowledge-based economy” (KBE) concept as a result of significantly increasing globalization and availability of information technologies, It has also become an important topic of discussion in the international economy (George 2006). OECD (2002, 2020) makes an institutional classification to measure scientific and technological activities of sectors and they define the HE sector as follows:
…All universities, colleges of technology, and other institutions of post-secondary education, whatever their source of finance or legal status. It also includes all research institutions, experimental stations and clinics 2operating under the direct control of or administered by or associated with higher education institutions. … The HE sector includes all establishments whose primary activity is to provide post-secondary (tertiary level) education regardless of their legal status.
Wissema (2009) defines this recent period as the “third-generation university-3GU” which is shown in Figure 1.1. In this respect, the 3GU approach is the starting point of this book to explain major needs and expectations for digitally transforming universities in the below sections.