A survey by a higher education association released Friday pegged computer system and campus information technology funding as the No. 1 issue being faced by university information technology departments.
The Eighth Annual Current Issues Survey was administered by EDUCASE to 591 colleges and universities by the nonprofit association that focuses on advancing the use of technology in higher education.
"We're certainly not advocating technology for technology's sake," said Peter DeBlois, the director of Programs and Media Relations for EDUCAUSE and liaison for the survey. "We want it to be the right use that is appropriate for different institutions, and every institution obviously has their own different missions for how technology is going to enhance learning and student services."
The survey questions are developed by DeBlois and his committee of 12 members, which come from a range of different-sized institutions.
There are four main questions that universities are asked to answer by rating a series of technology issues, from security, to funding and identity/access management to strategic planning. The questions asked by technology administrators were what issues they see as important right now and what issues they see as becoming important in the near future.
"These are IT issues — things that the [Chief Information Officer] of the institution needs to pay attention to," said Judy Caruso, the director of computer services at University of Wisconsin's Division of Information Technology.
Funding, which is seen as one of the most important higher education issues nationally, is also a concern on the UW campus.
"There's never going to be enough funding. This is an $80 million operation at UW-Madison in the Division of Information Technology, and a lot more money than that is spent by private colleges," said Ken Frazier, UW's interim chief information officer. "It's a matter of managing the money we have rather than simply getting more money."
In addition, another large issue DoIT focuses on is security.
"Almost all university networks are hacked all the time, so we've got to make sure our servers are secure," Frazier said. "We need to protect the privacy of our users and university data."
Besides security issues with the UW network itself, Frazier sees students putting their own personal security at risk by using sites like Facebook.
"Social networking is growing very, very rapidly and it's not going to stop," Frazier said. "Since the user defines the way they disclose themselves on Facebook, it's very difficult to see how the university can protect students from their own behavior."
Frazier said the university also has issues monitoring students' use of file sharing. Legally, there is nothing the university can do to prevent the recording industry from targeting and fining students that breach copyright law.
"I really worry about students," Frazier said. "I don't think many students appreciate the level of risk that's out there."
File sharing is not specifically addressed in the EDUCAUSE survey, but DeBlois sees it being incorporated into a few of the topics administrators are asked to rank.
"File sharing and the challenges to that would most likely come under infrastructure, which is usually the place that sees that kind of activity and sees the stress on an institution's computing resources," DeBlois said.
While Fraizer and DoIT want to protect student computer users from personal and network security threats, he said, "[Our main goal] is employing the best in modern IT to our students so we can remain competitive as a university."
