Abstract:

Institutions of higher education have become increasingly dependent on IS/IT in order to deliver their services flexibly and effectively to diverse student bodies. This has made it necessary for IS decision makers within the higher education environment to increase their involvement in business decision making and find ways to optimize the value of IT to business. This exploratory study examines how central IS departments in four institutions of higher education in Australia are transforming organizational attitudes and approaches to governing IT by implementing structural and processes changes and establishing relational mechanisms. The relationship between these changes and five focus areas of IT governance (strategic alignment, value delivery, risk management, resource management and performance measurement) is also explored.