Analysis of data governance in higher education institutions : case of a university of technology in South Africa

Abstract

Organisations now invest in ICT solutions to drive business activities and provide the agility sought for competitive advantage. These may include government departments, higher-education institutions (universities) and commercial entities amongst other things. The challenges with regards to ICT and data management are equally applicable in universities as they do in business organisations. Universities have a growing ICT infrastructure used in everyday activities and online functionality, making them prone to data problems. This emerges from data that is used across various business processes which are dispersed among departments. In turn, a level of inefficiency finds its way with potential to generate inaccurate, missing, misinterpreted and poorly defined information. Higher education institutions are service providers and it is imperative to have reliable, timely and organised data to maintain the performance of the institution. They often experience data management challenges that ultimately affect the institution’s efficiency. These data management challenges arise from institutions not thoroughly dealing with data content, records management, quality, stewardship, governance and research data management. This study explored how data can be managed in higher education institutions using properly defined principles of data governance (DG) which will assist the institutions recognise and treat data as an organisational asset.