ROADMAP

Aware of the current high expectations from the UTCN staff towards their workplace and from the students towards their learning spaces, there is need for fast responses, proactive digital innovation, prioritisation, or projects implementation. UTCN relies on digital services to increase its attractiveness towards staff recruitment and students. The roadmap includes a portfolio of measures that address the ongoing and planned digitalisation projects. The roadmap is a living document, updated by the project's members in the UTCN M365 digital services.

I. Launching the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute

II. Developing Onboarding Digital Kits for students, employees, partners.

Onboarding digital services for students, staff and partners should be more closely interlinked and communicated digitally. These services include areas such as staff recruitment and student admission Fresh and prospective students will be well informed on the digital services available at UTCN. The aim is to use less paper and more automation in the processes.

III. Automatically creating and updating web pages for each academic staff.

IV. Digitisation of UTCN spaces.

Integration of digital technologies with the physical infrastructure, aiming to create multifunctional spaces. Well-coordinated space management (e.g. room booking, room availability, room occupancy) is mandatory for supporting informed decisions on space management within UTCN.

V. Operationalising an internal digital signature.

The signature will be used in the internal organisational processes. We start by identifying those processes adequate for the internal digital signature.

VI. Training for staff to increase their competences in implementing digital innovations

VII. Expansion of services and infrastructures to improve digitalisation of other administrative processes and services.

Digitalisation supports collaboration between UTCN structures, by stimulating knowledge exchange between structures. This exchange of knowledge and good practices facilitates the identification of university-wide needs and promotes cooperation between academic and administrative staff. Examples of collaboration between stakeholders with diverse perspectives and complementary competences include:
(i) collaboration between financial department and IT department for EMSYS improvement
(ii) collaboration between secretariats and IT departments for public transportation,
(iii) collaboration between technical staff and finance department.

We aim to ensure digital sovereignty. That is, the capacity of UTCN to maintain autonomy or ability to adapt to changes in digital environment, deciding whether to build in-house, buy, or run innovation challenges. In this line, our digital portfolio interleaves:
(i) open-source software whenever possible,
(ii) commercial services in case of specific needs,
(iii) in-house solutions, either through dedicated structures or spin-off activities,
(iv) inter-university cooperation (especially EUt+ alliance)

UTCN is committed to open science. In this line digital infrastructure is available to support data collection, processing, analysis, interpretation and dissemination

Advertising good practices is done with the Monthly Digital Bulletin. The digital transformation is a key driver for the proactive further development of UTCN. We aim to expand our digital services, particularly for learning and teaching. These include the use of AI in teaching and learning.

The success criteria for the “IT Infrastructure and Digitalisation“ prorectorat: when all groups of the university members and people interacting with the UTCN experience noticeable improvements in their interaction with the UTCN digital services. Collaborative work, enabled by digital tools, must become integral to our institution.

Digitalisation also faces risks, costs, and uncertainties. For example, IT security risks have grown significantly, driven in part by shifting geopolitical dynamics. Additionally, the gap between the rising demand for digital skills and expertise and the limited supply of qualified professionals remains a challenge. Also, digitalisation and Datafication mean more work and higher costs for universities digital ecosystems and collaborations with EdTech companies; To develop our digital services requires increasing investment in our infrastructure, the development of competences and IT security, or sustainable staffing. However, the benefits of digitalisation are essential for our institution's resilience to crises.