Revisit the COVID-19 Pandemic as a Catalyst Towards Digital Transformation in Malaysia Higher Education Institutions

• Published in: 8th International Conference on Recent Advances and Innovations in Engineering: Empowering Computing, Analytics, and Engineering Through Digital Innovation, ICRAIE 2023
• Main Author: Abbas W.F.; Naz'Ri Mahrin M.; Maarop N.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85189942120&doi=10.1109%2fICRAIE59459.2023.10468465&partnerID=40&md5=fe8fbff863222c81efc6129db14287ab

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unprecedented disruption to global higher education systems. This led to a sudden shift towards online learning, which heavily relies on digital technologies. There existed a pressing necessity to adapt, automate and digitalize the organizational process. The objective of this study is to clarify the impact and opportunities that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic towards Digital Transformation (DT) in Malaysia Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This study adopted a qualitative methodology, and the data acquired was analyzed using thematic analysis. This paper presents the outcomes of semi-structured interviews with IT personnel from Malaysian HEIs during the pandemic to learn about their challenges and how the pandemic affected DT efforts. DT post-pandemic impact on HEIs were clarified by research studies. This study found four primary impact themes: cultural change, IT infrastructure development, policy refinement, and digital skill resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic in expediting DT process in Malaysia HEIs. © 2023 IEEE.