Digital transformation of continuous education: challenges for university IT infrastructure

Promoting the development of the region’s human capital is an inevitable requirement of the digital transformation of higher education, and the implementation of an ecosystem approach in university management becomes a prerequisite for creating mutually beneficial conditions for continuous education. The aim of the article is to analyze the current state of university IT infrastructure in the context of the prospects for creating digital ecosystems that promote the development of continuous education services. The article is of an applied nature. The author applies a combined methodology for analyzing university IT infrastructure, based on the information used: data from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science monitoring from 2018 to 2022, monitoring by MIPT on the effectiveness of university activities, and educational platform content. The study proposes and measures the index of the digital component of academic knowledge, showing its positive dynamics overall for the country amid multidirectional changes in regions. The author draws attention to the lagging indicators of university development monitoring in terms of reflecting IT infrastructure development indicators. The expansion of the digital educational space, the segment of online resources of regional universities on federal platforms, the trend towards consumerization, and the creation of a unified digital environment, along with grant support, make it possible to further develop a regional-level unified integration platform for continuous education. Alongside these positive conditions for digital transformation, the analysis revealed digital infrastructure inequality in regional universities, low population engagement in continuous education, and the most active market positions of non-state educational platforms. The research novelty lies in the comparative analytical assessment of university IT infrastructure from the perspective of supporting continuous education based on an ecosystem approach. The research results can be useful to institutional structures and the academic community for scientifically substantiating the creation and implementation of digital continuous education services.