University in the digital age: navigating the transition to the future of education and research

The CoDAU, which represents the managerial community of the entire Italian university system, is putting the theme of "the future of universities, between humanism artificial intelligence and data governance" at the centre of its national conference in Florence, from 19 to 21 September. The central themes of the conference, which will be attended by more than 350 accredited participants, including a delegation of the general directors of French universities, will be the ways in which the university system, together with the most important national and international stakeholders, can effectively drive the change generated by artificial intelligence and data governance, facilitating innovation and the development of appropriate skills.

In the context of accelerated digital evolution, university organisations are faced with a momentous challenge: interpret change or risk obsolescence. The transition to digital environments profoundly impacts research, teaching and administration and requires a radical reconsideration of acquired methods. Students prefer an education system that reflects the technological trends of modern society. This includes access to advanced digital infrastructures such as intuitive platforms for collaborative learning, virtual labs for scientific experiments and immersive simulations.

Artificial intelligence offers powerful tools for automating repetitive tasks, personalising learning and even creating customised educational content. Through the collection and analysis of huge amounts of data, made possible today by supercomputing technologies and quantum systems, academic institutions can gain deep insights at the frontier of research, for instance in genomics, simulation of complex systems, and historical research. No discipline is immune to this technological impact. The possibility of intelligent research in administrative data, the potential of augmentative and multilingual communication systems break down the barriers between the domain of administrations and the needs of users and challenge the management and IT models of administrative structures.

The Italian government has a crucial role in providing the financial support and strategy needed to drive this transformation. Programmes such as the National Recovery and Resilience Plan offer opportunities for targeted investments in technology infrastructure and personnel training. In addition, collaboration between universities, industry and research institutions can play a key role in driving innovation and the adoption of new technologies. But this commitment must first and foremost involve the academic communities themselves, overcoming individualistic and self-referential approaches, because Italian universities can and must emerge as the authoritative leaders of this transition, travelling the frontier of innovation and anchoring it to the heart of the scientific tradition, which privileges the creativity of the individual and experimental demonstrability as methodological factors. It is more than a challenge that awaits us. The digital transformation requires the rethinking of skills and processes within universities, but at the same time it requires universities to form skills and critical consciousness in order to be conducted and interpreted itself.
* President of the CoDAU - Conference of General Directors of University Administrations