A steadily increasing number of digital technologies are being used in all areas of higher education. These technologies allow users to have new experiences when interacting with universities. As a result, they are becoming an important factor that determines whether efficient university administration and monitoring processes can be successfully established. The demands in terms of the design, development, and operation of the systems and system landscapes required to implement and operate these technologies, however, are also steadily increasing. Universities are being confronted with a constantly growing range of providers and products, and the intensifying focus on IT security and data protection places an additional burden on university IT operations.

In the future, systems will need to be highly customisable to meet the local requirements of the diverse university landscape, which includes specialised institutions ranging from art to medical to technical universities, as well as the diverse requirements of full universities. At the same time, the systems have to operate sustainably, securely, and cost-effectively so that the benefits and opportunities offered by innovative digital technologies are made available to the largest group of members possible at universities of different sizes.

Aims of the initiative

The aim of this project is to develop applications and systems that can that can be used to perform and simplify typical university processes, such as using the electronic degree programme file or organising documents. In the future, universities should be able to choose from a range of free-license (according to the definition of OSI), well-integrated, and cooperatively developed IT tools that are already used at universities. These meet all current requirements for data protection and IT security, and their designs and functionalities can be easily adapted to meet local needs.

The modular architecture allows universities to define the desired level of integration themselves and to select components that they consider as optimal. Existing systems are integrated effectively by using open interfaces. By defining cooperative development models, the sustainability of the system operation can be ensured by involving all interested universities at the same time. In the long term, establishing the system will provide added value regarding the design, development, and operation of applications in the Austrian higher education landscape.

Potential synergies with other universities

The toolkit provides participating universities with a way to collaboratively develop digital systems in Austrian higher education. New steps can be taken collaboratively from the concept development phase and onwards. By bundling development resources, ensuring the broad applicability of the results, and building skills in joint development, the resulting systems can be sustainably operated, regardless of the size of the individual universities or their available resources, and digital processes can be harmonised in all parts of all universities in Austria.

The resulting IT tools do not depend on specific vendors due to the use of open source software. They can also easily be adapted to meet local requirements in terms of their design and functionality. The developed solutions meet the recognised usability and accessibility standards and can be operated both online and on mobile devices, taking into account current expectations.

University-specific extensions and adaptations are also possible with these free licenses (as defined by OSI). In the medium term, this will result in a set of components that is adapted to optimally meet the requirements of modern universities and can be easily used by all interested partner universities. Because they are developed based on open source methods, all systems can already be evaluated and used by interested universities in the development phase.

The expertise in data security available at the participating universities is considered when making all systemic and technological decisions. The flexibility in terms of the operation (local hosting/cloud) and development of all elements helps universities to follow guidelines such as the GDPR or the e-privacy regulation.