PESTLE Analysis for UK Higher Education Institutions

PESTLE Analysis for UK Higher Education Institutions Function: IT/LibraryCollaborative analysis performed by FLP Cohort 4, October 2009

PESTLE Analysis FactorsFunction

Potential Impact Implication and Importance

ITOverall impact

(High, Medium, Low, Undetermined)Time Frame

(0-6 months, 6-12 months etc)Type (positive, negative, u/k)Impact

Increasing, decreasing, unchanged, u/kRelative ImportanceCritical, important, unimportant, unknown

PoliticalAll political parties likely to target Higher Education as an easy win for expected spending cutsHigh0-12 months depending on political calendar for election, budgetsNegativeIncreasingCritical

Changes in education policy if different party elected

Ageing electorate may mean that manifestos focusing on health and law and order are more politically popular than those preserving spending oneducation.

The threat of terrorism combined with counter-terrorism measures (e.g. new UK border authority regulations) may deter some overseas students from attending UK HEIs and thus increase competition amongst universities for those who do come.

Political push for efficiency savings through shared services and public/private partnerships

Overseas governments may provide incentives to welcome UK students and to prevent home students leaving their country for education - Germany promotes free HE to its students to increase the skill base; China encourages students to study abroad but then cascade skills at home to reduce the need for overseas education in the long term.

Government policy on widening access could imply greater use of remote learning facilities, which in turn brings a range of infrastructure and security implications

Public policy aspirations to place UK as global centre of innovation in the knowledge economy (JISC Edgeless Universityreport 2009)

Public policy on life-long learning - giving access to education regardless of background (JISC Edgeless University report 2009)

An increase in open access content may generate changes within copyright & IPRlaw

Greater diversity of learning providers of higher education - e.g. private institutions with degree awarding power

Greater diversity of and thus increasing competition from private HEIs

Impact of the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area could have an impact on areas such as program design, , student mobility, and quality assurance

Open source legislation? Not sure what this is.

EconomicWith decreasing direct government funding for HE, HEIs will have to develop new income streamsHigh6-12 monthsNegativeIncreasingCritical

SocialParticipation for non-manual classes has increased from 35% to 50% in the period from 1991-92 to 2001-2Medium

Participation for manual classes has increased only from 11% to 19% during the same periodMedium

TechnologicalInvestigate working with suppliers to find solutions that provide HE institutions with common interfaces between applications regardless of which systems they are using. HE institutions should be driving suppliers - not the other way round. Isnt this a desire rather than a reality? I think were supposed to be looking at how technological change could impact on our areas of responsibilityHigh

Systems such as Sharepoint have the potential to improve internal processes and communication via enhanced document management and workflow systems.

High

SAAS (Software as a Service)

LegalData protection and security issues likely to increase in importanceHigh

Immigration legislation pushing for more rigorous Identity Management system within and between education institutionsHigh

Environ-mentalIncreasing pressure to reduce energy consumption of IT infrastructure with green data centres, efficient cooling etc

High massive investment requiredOngoing no current legal requirement but this may become a realityShort term ve impact (financial outlay); longer term +ve through reduced power consumptionIncreasing impact, lessened to an extent if technologies such as virtualisation are adoptedImportant becoming critical as climate change impact develops

WEEE regulations this is both environmental and legal requirement to dispose of electrical and electronic equipment in a responsible manner with recycling of materials and secure data removal

Medium requires asset management procedures, staff and budget resources to administer

Current regulations are already in place

+ve impact for environment; -ve in terms of potential for additional resources requiredImpact likely to increase if IT and electrical equipment usage increases

Important

'Green' policies and regulationsimpacting on businesses e.g. Carbon Reduction Commitment, linked with financial penalties