The Effectiveness of Digital Transformation in Enhancing Institutional Performance in Higher Education Institutions

Mahmoud Saeed (1) , Randa Taher (1)
(1) Mansoura University, Egypt

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the effectiveness of digital transformation in enhancing institutional performance within higher education institutions, by exploring its role in improving the quality of educational and administrative services and strengthening decision‑making efficiency. A descriptive–analytical methodology was adopted, drawing on a wide range of relevant Arabic and international books and scholarly studies addressing digital transformation and institutional performance in higher education. The findings indicate that digital transformation constitutes a strategic pillar for advancing institutional performance, as it contributes to improving service quality, facilitating access to information, enhancing governance and transparency, and increasing responsiveness to rapid changes in the educational environment. The study further reveals that the success of digital transformation depends on several key factors, most notably: the availability of adequate digital infrastructure, the level of digital awareness and readiness among academic and administrative staff, strong leadership support, and the adoption of an organizational culture that embraces change and innovation. Conversely, higher education institutions face a number of challenges that may diminish the impact of digital transformation, including limited funding, insufficient technical competencies, resistance to change, and weak integration among digital systems. Based on these findings, the study recommends increasing investment in digital infrastructure, developing the digital competencies of human resources, formulating comprehensive digital policies and strategies, and adopting an integrated set of key performance indicators to monitor and evaluate the impact of digital transformation on institutional performance in higher education institutions.

Full text article

Generated from XML file

References

AbdelAal, M. M. (2023). Rebuilding local governmental human resource competencies from the perspective of digital transformation policies: A comparative study between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science.

AbdelMoati, A., Sultan, A., & Maghrebi, A. (2025). Requirements for teacher educational empowerment in light of the philosophy of hybrid education: An analytical study. Journal of the Faculty of Education, 40(2).

Abu Khreis, I., & Muftah, A. A. (2023). Strategic planning between theory and practice in higher education institutions: Application to the Libyan Academy for Postgraduate Studies / Tripoli – Libya. Humanities & Natural Sciences Journal. https://www.hnjournal.net/en/4-9-19/

AbuShanab, E., & AlTarawneh, H. (2023). The role of digital transformation in improving service quality in Jordanian universities. International Journal of Educational Management, 37(2), 200–215.

AbuShanab, E. A., & Haider, K. R. (2024). Digital transformation readiness and its role in improving university performance in the Middle East. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 16(1), 56–73. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-04-2023-0120

AlAzzam, M. (2017). Ensuring quality in open and distance learning. The Educational Journal, 47(47).

AlDajani, I. (2010). The role of strategic planning in institutional performance quality: A descriptive analytical study in Palestinian conventional universities (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Damascus).

AlHalabi, W. A. (2022). Impact of emanagement systems on institutional performance in Arab universities. International Journal of Educational Management, 36(5), 788–802. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-11-2021-0442

AlHalawani, A. M. H. (2024). The role of digital transformation in developing educational services at Assiut University from the perspective of faculty members. Journal of the Faculty of Education, Assiut.

AlHarbi, T. D., & AlRabghi, R. A. (2025). The role of digital government and its support for public entities in adopting emerging technologies to enable digital transformation: A case study of the Saudi Digital Government Authority. QScience, Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press.

AlHarthy, A. H. (2021). The role of digital readiness in the success of digital transformation in Saudi universities. International Journal of Educational Research, 54(3), 101–115.

AlJaafari, A. H. (2023). Resistance to change and its impact on the adoption of digital education systems in higher education institutions. Arab Journal for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, 16(2), 88–104.

AlJaafreh, S. (2023). Digitization and improving service quality performance in municipalities. Humanities & Natural Sciences Journal, 4(2).

Aljanazrah, A., Yerousis, G., Hamed, G., & Khlaif, Z. N. (2022). Digital transformation in times of crisis: Challenges, attitudes, opportunities and lessons learned from students’ and faculty members’ perspectives. Frontiers in Education, 7, Article 1047035. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1047035

AlKahtani, N. S., & Ahmed, A. M. (2023). Digital transformation and institutional performance in higher education institutions in the Middle East. Journal of Educational Technology, 38(4), 211–228.

AlKarki, Z. M. M. (2022). Human resource management and enhancing organisational development for municipal employees. Humanities & Natural Sciences Journal.

AlKhalifi, S. (2024). Digital transformation in universities: Opportunities and challenges. Journal of the Association of Arab Universities for Higher Education, 29(1), 112–129.

AlMadhoun, M. A. (2014). Knowledge management processes and their relationship to institutional performance excellence: An applied study on the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Gaza governorates (Unpublished master’s thesis, Islamic University of Gaza).

AlMalki, M. M., & Abdulkarim, A. A. (2022). Challenges in integrating digital systems in universities. Higher Education Studies, 12(2), 44–59.

Almuraqab, N. A., Jarrar, H., & AbuShanab, E. (2022). Digital transformation and its impact on institutional performance in higher education institutions: Evidence from the UAE. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 14(1), 45–62.

AlNasser, M. (2022). Challenges of digital transformation in Arab public universities. Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences, 6(9), 45–95.

Alshahrani, M. S., & Ally, M. (2022). Strategic planning for digital transformation in higher education institutions. Education and Information Technologies, 27(1), 1–19.

Alshahrani, S. M. (2023). The role of digital transformation in enhancing the quality of administrative services in higher education institutions. Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, 15(2), 101–113. https://doi.org/10.5897/JEAPS2023.0721

AlUmairi, S., & Muhdar, W. (2025). Mechanisms of digital transformation to achieve competitive advantage in Saudi universities: An analytical study. Journals of Qualitative Education, 38(1).

Avdeeva, S., Uvarov, A., & Tarasova, K. (2022). Digital transformation of schools and students’ information and communication literacy. Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, 1(Eng), 218–243. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2022-1-218-243

Baghdadi, A. (2024). Digital transformation, sustainable development, and a proposed model for Palestinian universities [Unpublished master’s thesis, Arab American University].

Bahach, W. (2024). Digital transformation and its role in modernising higher education institutions. Algerian Journal of Law and Political Science, 9(2).

Bawaneh, A. K., Nurunnabi, M., & Abdeljawad, A. M. (2020). Barriers to digital transformation in higher education: A qualitative analysis. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 17(5), 56–72.

Dwivedi, Y. K., et al. (2020). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 55, Article 102168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168

Eynon, R. (2021). The human side of digital transformation in higher education. Oxford Internet Institute. https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk

Fannour, N., & Cheheb, A. (2023). Digitization in higher education and the challenges of distance education in Algeria. Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 8(4).

Fari‘ah, A. H. AlOmari. (2023). The role of education policies in digital transformation in light of Saudi Vision from the perspective of female teachers. Journal of the Faculty of Education.

Hafidhi, S. (2023). Digitization and its role in the quality of higher education: Algerian universities as a model. International Journal of Research, 6(4).

Hamza, A. M. (2021). Institutional performance management: Concept, models, applications. Cairo: Anglo Egyptian Bookshop.

Kettunen, J. (2020). The effects of digitalization on quality and efficiency in higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 28(1), 10–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-03-2019-0022

Khramova, L. N., Lobanova, O. B., Basalaeva, N. V., Firer, A. V., & Kirgizova, E. V. (2022). The model of formation of functional literacy of students in the conditions of digital transformation taking into account regional specificity. Journal of Siberian Federal University – Humanities and Social Sciences, 15(10), 1394–1403.

Mahmoud, W. M. A. (2024). Investing academic knowledge production of faculty members as an approach to achieving Benha University’s competitive advantage. Journal of the Faculty of Education (Assiut).

Makhlouf, A. M. A. (2022). Maximizing intellectual capital at Suez University to achieve its competitive advantage: A proposed model. Journal of the Faculty of Education, Assiut, 38(6), 19–128. https://doi.org/10.21608/mfes.2022.266096

Mohamed Hussein, M., Abdallah Mohamed Hassan, & Salah. (2024). Requirements for activating academic freedom for the educational empowerment of preuniversity teachers. The Educational Journal.

Mousa, A. M. A. B. (2025). The role of internal audit assurance and consulting services in supporting digital transformation strategy in banks: A field study on a sample of Sudanese banks. Humanities & Natural Sciences Journal.

Nasr, I. K. A., Mahfouz, R., & Hamdi, T. (2023). Developing preuniversity education policies in light of the digital transformation system: An analytical study. EKB Journal Management System, 5(4), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.21608/altc.2023.347356 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21608/altc.2023.347356

OECD. (2021). Digital education outlook: Pushing the frontiers with AI, blockchain and robots. https://www.oecd.org

Othman, A. (2023). The role of the university in implementing hybrid education from the perspective of faculty members: A field study. Journal of the Faculty of Education, 39(2).

Salem, H. M. (2021). Digital transformation and its impact on the quality of university services: A case study of Egyptian universities. Education and Information Technologies, 26(6), 6903–6920. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10521-5

Shreer, R. (2023). Digital transformation in public higher education institutions in the southern governorates of Palestine. Journal of the Association of Arab Universities, 38(4).

Sultan, A. M., & Hashim, A. (2022). Developing the academic performance of education college faculty members in light of the university twinning approach. Journal of the Faculty of Education (Assiut).

UNESCO. (2022). Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org

World Bank. (2023). Digital transformation of education systems: Policy brief. https://www.worldbank.org

Authors

Mahmoud Saeed
Randa Taher
Saeed, M., & Taher, R. (2026). The Effectiveness of Digital Transformation in Enhancing Institutional Performance in Higher Education Institutions. Arado Business Journal, 1, 91–110. https://doi.org/10.64190/abj.1.2.2026.14

Article Details

Similar Articles

<< < 1 2 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

No Related Submission Found