How it Works – Universities

There are at least 13,783 recognized Universities or Institutes of higher education worldwide with well over 100 million students graduating every year – Europe and USA account for around 4 million graduates each year, with China and India having a graduate count of 60 million and 25 million respectively. More universities are added every year resulting in increases to the graduate count.

Universities are places of  vibrant knowledge hubs and incubators of latest technologies. We would assume such places adopt what they recognize as true technological advances, but unfortunately, historical data indicates a slow adoption of these technological and digital innovations by a large percentage of the universities worldwide. This has led to continued increases in costs and decreased efficiencies translating to an ever-increasing educational cost for students.

Lack of technology adoption and increasing diversity of the students from around the world makes it difficult for universities to try and attract global talent for various programs without validating  the academic credentials of the incoming student. The problem is further aggravated due to the diploma mills which create genuine looking certificates or create fake universities. Universities (and potential employers of the students) spend a huge amount time  and effort in trying to verify such student credentials.

Some of those in the fake racket business set up genuine looking helplines for verification purposes for a fraction of the cost and effort it takes to get a genuine degree. In some countries, this has turned into a billion-dollar per annum industry.

Universities which fall behind in embracing the latest tools and technologies have shown to have lower efficiency and lack of empowering their students who are becoming a global traveler. This may impact the Institution with a fall in reputation that could have a spiraling effect on rankings, endowments, admissions income etc – the very basis of how such Institutions are being measured and rewarded on. Potential employers may too go as far as blacklisting Universities because of the possible lack of trust worthiness in the certifications provided.

With  governments investing billions in their Universities and Higher Education systems to make them globally competitive, it has become imperative for these Institutions to adopt solutions that make them lean, efficient, competitive, sustainable, but above all, enhance their financial and educational reputations worldwide for their long term success.