# Assessing Digital Transformation in Universities
## 1 Introduction
### ICT Use in Universities  
The pace of higher education transformation has not kept up with the general shift in all other aspects of society. [PERSON] [25] stated that technology use has been left to the discretion of the professor with little or no institutional support. She also mentioned that most scholars in the field accredited the slow reaction to an inertia that deterred innovation and change. Openness to change is a requirement for transformation. Universities face many challenges, including the decomposition of degrees into smaller open-source learning networks that can be credentialed will provide the skills needed for a job. This atomic learning process seems to agree with the finely minced and popular pieces of knowledge acquisition tools available online, like open educational resources, or even those unsanctioned for content and academic quality, such as online videos. [PERSON] et al. [26] proposed a framework to assess the level of digital maturity in universities, based on their ability to provide an appropriate IT infrastructure (e.g., network connectivity, computing devices in labs or loan systems, equipped classrooms), apply technology to the teaching and learning process (e.g., open educational resources, interactive lessons, artificial intelligence and robotics, 3D platforms, repositories, and virtual simulators), and provide collaboration and organizational platforms to integrate processes and people (e.g., workflow systems, educational social networks, learning management systems integrated with academic administration systems, and virtual communities). The ability of universities to attain these objectives is severely restricted by contextual constraints in the political, social, and economic domains. The Networked Readiness Index, published by the World Economic Forum, provides a general assessment of the state of countries, in terms of their ability to benefit from ICTs for improving their development and competitiveness, therefore significantly improving the quality of life of their inhabitants. This index has evolved over time, and it is currently comprised of four pillars that relate to technology, people, governance, and impact [27]. This framework is directly related to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with quality education, where ICTs play a fundamental role, being fourth on the list [28]. An important challenge to promoting educational digital transformation is presented by the generational differences between the digital native students and the ICT-adopting faculty, posing a need for promoting a policy that enables both infrastructure and innovative learning environments to meet the needs of the Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 eras [29]. This comes with the need for a large faculty training and awareness development component. However, the characteristics of the so-called digital natives have been controversial material for extensive discussion among researchers. An analysis of what would be defined as the Google generation (born in 1993 or later) concluded that the concept that they were more web-literate than others could be overturned, since they could not critically assess the information retrieved. They did, however, show greater familiarity with and ease of use of computers and constant connectivity. They, however, are more competent in the use of technology, prefer interactive platforms over passive information consumption, have high expectations of IT, prefer visual information over text, and tend to engage in plagiarism to a greater degree due to copy and paste availability, among many other findings [30]. This is consistent with a study [31] that found that the so-called digital natives, or the Net generation, are more intensive users of technology, especially the younger ones. Nevertheless, they use technology for informal purposes rather than academic ones. They are familiar and comfortable with ICTs, but they are not necessarily proficient at their use in different disciplines.