Excerpted from
Campus Computing 2005
The 16th National
Survey of Computing and Information Technology in American Higher Education=
Rising Concern About IT Security
Campus IT offic=
ials
identify “network and data security” as the “single most
important IT issue affecting their institution over the next two-three
years” according to new data from the 2005 Campus Computing Survey. As
shown in Figure 1, almost a third (30.0 percent) of the 2005 survey respond=
ents
– typically campus CIOs, CTOs, or other senior campus IT officers =
211;
cite network and data security as “the single most important IT
issue” currently confronting their institutions, up from one-fifth (2=
1.2
percent) in 2004.
![](3D"ITTrends2_files/image002.gif")
Figure
1: Single Most Important IT Issue, 2000-2005
(top three items, percentages)<=
/o:p>
IT Budgets
Dat=
a from
the 2005 survey show continuing improvements in campus IT budgets. Just one-sixth (15.5 percent) of the surveyed institutions report budget cuts in
academic computing for the 2005/06 academic year, compared to one-fourth (2=
4.3
percent) in 2004/05, two-fifths (41.3 percent) in 2003/04 and a third (32.6
percent) in 2002/03. In contrast, more than two-fifths (44.3 percent) of the
campuses report increased funds for academic computing this year, up from 3=
7.9
percent in 2004 and a fourth (26.9 percent) in 2003.&nbs=
p;
Even as IT budgets show gains, the distribution of fu=
nds
reflects changing IT priorities discussed above. For example, given CIO con=
cerns
about IT security, it is not surprising that security budgets were the cate=
gory
of IT spending most likely to experience improved funding for 2005/06. Almo=
st
two-thirds (64.4 percent) of the surveyed institutions report gains in thei=
r IT
security budgets, up from three-fifths (59.5 percent) in 2004. The survey data also point to incr=
eased
funding in 2005 for ERP software and services, network servers, portals, and
for IT consultants (Figure 9).
While the budget gains in IT funding for 2005 should =
be viewed
as good news, there is little question that technology budgets, and by
extension, campus technology investments and initiatives, still suffer from=
the
cumulative impact of the major IT budget cuts and mid-year budget rescissio=
ns
that were common across all sectors during the early years of the decade.
Moreover, the budget cuts came amidst increasing institutional IT needs and
growing expectations for IT resources and services, including, for example,=
IT
security and disaster recovery (percentage of institutions reporting budget cuts or
increases, by IT function) eCommerce and eService=
The=
2005
data reveal continuing gains on a number of eCommerce and eService measures
across all sectors of higher education. For example, three-fourths (76.3
percent) of the institutions participating in the 2005 survey report they c=
an
now process credit card payments from the campus web site, up from about
two-thirds (65.4 percent) in =
2004,
just over half (53.5 percent) in 2003, two-fifths (40.1 percent) in 2002, 2=
7.6
percent in 2001, and almost triple the number in 2000 (18.6 percent). In
contrast, just 5.1 percent of campuses participating in the 1998 survey cou=
ld
process online credit card transactions (Figure 19). Onl=
ine
course registration services have also shown dramatic gains over the past s=
ix
years. More than none-tenths (90.7 percent) of the survey respondents report
that their campus now offers online course registration, compared to 84.1 p=
ercent
in 2004, a three-fourths (76.6 percent) in 2003, two-thirds (70.9 percent) =
in
2002, just over half (55.4 percent) in 2001, 43.1 percent in 2000, and just=
a
fifth (20.9 percent) in 1998. Add=
itionally,
the proportion of campuses that now provide online access to student
transcripts has more than tripled from 1998 to 2005, rising from 17.6 to 77=
.5
percent, and up from 71.1 percent in 2004 and 64.4 in 2003. Online course
reserves are now available at almost two-thirds (63.6 percent) of the insti=
tutions
participating in the Campus Computing Survey, compared to half more than ha=
lf
(53.3 percent) in 2003, two-fifths (43.0 percent) in 2002, and just over
one-sixth (17.9 percent) in 1998. (percentages by service=
category,
1998-2004) The=
2005
survey also provides national data about the availability of electronic
portfolios (ePortfolios). Just over one-fourth (27.2 percent) of institutio=
ns
now offer ePortfolios, up from 13.5 percent in 2003. Public four-year colle=
ges
now lead all sectors with the deployment of ePortfolio services (37.1 perce=
nt,
up from 31.7 in 2003), perhaps reflecting the role of ePortfolios of the
assessment and accreditation requirements for teacher education. Rising Use of IT in Instruction =
(percentages by planning issue and sectors) IT Evaluation and Asse=
ssment One of the most=
interesting IT challenges confronting CIOs and other =
campus
officials involves campus efforts to assess the impact of institutional
investments in information technology. As shown below =
in
Figure 22, campus technology officers affirm the need for IT assessment and
evaluation efforts – assessing the benefits of the campus IT investme=
nt,
surveying students and faculty about IT issues and services, and assessing =
the
“return on investment” (ROI) for campus IT spending. The scale scores for these items a=
re
high – between 5.5 and 6.2 (scale: 1=3Dstrongly disagree; 7=3Dstrongly
agree). However, the su=
rvey
data suggest a gap between CIO agreement about the need to engage in IT
assessment and the actual level of IT assessment and evaluation activities.=
As
of fall 2005, just one-third (34.0 percent) of the surveyed institutions re=
port
campus initiatives to “assess the impact of IT on instructional servi=
ces
and academic programs.” Public universities public and four-year coll=
eges
are more likely than institutions in other sectors to engage in IT assessme=
nt efforts
(Figure 22). (scale: 1=3Dstrongly disagree; 7=3D=
strongly
agree) Work Cited=
Green, Kenneth=
C.,
Campus Computing 2005: The 16th National Survey of Computing and
Information Technology in American Higher Education. March, 2006 Rising Concern About IT Security pg. 3, Kenneth C. Green IT Budgets pgs. 5-6, Kenneth C. Green eCommerce and eService pg. 11, Kenneth C. Green Rising Use of IT in Instruction pg. 9, Kenneth C. Green IT Evaluation and Assessment pg. 12, Kenneth C. Green![](3D"ITTrends2_files/image004.jpg")
Figure
9: Budget Gains and Cuts by IT Function, 2004
![](3D"ITTrends2_files/image006.gif")
Figure
19: Services on Campus Web Sites
![](3D"ITTrends2_files/image008.gif")
Figure
14: Rising Use of IT in Instruction
![](3D"ITTrends2_files/image010.gif")
Figure
22: CIO Support for IT Assessment and Evaluation, 2004.
Campus Computing 2005 Highlights