The Effects of ICT on Higher Education in Mexico

Y

11

Foreign Countries; Educational Technology; Technology Uses in Education; Higher Education; COVID-19; Pandemics; Electronic Learning; Social Systems; Commercialization; Online Courses; Educational Administration; Educational Change

2151-0393
2151-0407

This article analyzes how information and communication technology (ICT) has changed higher education in Mexico. While ICT has modified operations and working conditions in almost all sectors of the economy, its impact on higher education remained limited until 2019. In 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic led to its rapid adoption in most higher education institutions. Our analysis looks at this phenomenon from three perspectives. Using an educational perspective, we analyze how universities use ICT for teaching and learning. Before 2020, few students and teachers had embraced these technologies. Relying on organizational theory, we analyzed how the structures and rules of the game changed when institutions adapt to outside demands. In this field, research on the effects of ICT in various institutions shows that organizations can become more efficient, competitive and provide better client services. However, there is little research on whether ICT has caused an organizational change in higher education. Lastly, we use an academic capitalism perspective to ascertain how higher education institutions are knowledge-producing organizations, and how incorporating ICT can change the mode of production from a pre-capitalist to a capitalist one. This allowed us to look at how change affects who owns, manages, commercializes, and profits from knowledge. Considering changes from these perspectives, we conclude that digitalization favors ICT providers, but this however hardly benefits academic staff. At the same time, the national government is unconvinced of online teaching and has cut the budget during the pandemic. As a result, Mexican higher education will probably de-digitalize and return to traditional forms of instruction.

As Provided

2024

EJ1427072