FINANCING AND MODELLING TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

This thesis is a collection of contributions on the technology adoption in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In particular, it focuses on how funding schemes and business models impact when a new technology is available. With the intent of providing a picture of how technology comes in the activity HEIs, the analysis starts off with a descriptive introduction about distance education with a special focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), then three articles will be presented. The first paper points out a substantial heterogeneity among the funding systems: the governments reaction to the economic crisis appears to be one of the principal divisive factors. Some governments have increased funds for higher education, introducing targeted funding, allocated on a competitive basis, to meet the national targets; others have been cutting budgets; the second paper shows that the activation of MOOC platforms generates also the beginning of a new university business model with strong economic implications; the third paper finds that universities with less resources are more prone to innovate and marketization of HE will drive a depth innovation process.