The ambition of Australia’s tertiary education institutions to help students gain the skills they need to become the future leaders of business and industry knows no bounds. However, achieving this vision can be more challenging for institutions that rely on highly customised and legacy IT systems, which over time create what is known as technology debt.
These outdated, fragmented systems create unnecessary complexity and can be expensive to maintain. When only 9% of the sector’s senior leaders consider their institutions to be ready for digital transformation, addressing technology debt is key to reduce operational inefficiencies, cut soaring IT maintenance costs, and reserve precious resources for supporting student success.
What Technology Debt Looks Like in Practice
Technology debt in tertiary education is evident in ageing student information systems (SIS), fragmented CRM platforms, manual workarounds for ongoing IT issues, and siloed data. These slow down core functions, from onboarding students to monitoring and supporting their progress towards graduation.
When processes are fragmented or unreliable, the time and effort to resolve issues often falls back onto students themselves. This friction often disproportionately affects equity cohorts, such as First Nations students, students from regional areas, those from low socio-economic backgrounds, and other underrepresented groups who may face additional barriers to participation and success.
Tech debt can also divert significant resources away from an institution’s strategic priorities, compounding financial pressures such as declining funding for Commonwealth supported student places and rising operating costs.
A survey of CIOs conducted by global management consultants McKinsey & Company suggests that technology debt can account for up to 40 percent of an organisation’s technology estate and as much as 20 percent of budgets for new products is spent addressing it, rather than funding forward-looking investment.
With tertiary education budgets continually squeezed, these figures emphasise the need for institutions to move away from technology that requires constant maintenance and investment just to keep the lights on for the status quo and fail to deliver innovation for student success.
Why SIS Is the Tech Backbone for Australia’s Tertiary Education Institutions
A contemporary SIS is the foundation for the modernisation of technology and systems in Australia’s tertiary education sector. It offers real-time insights into student enrolment, attendance, progression, and wellbeing which staff can use to identify those at risk and offer proactive support to keep them on track.
Most processes in the student lifecycle are homogenous, so bespoke SIS customisations rarely deliver meaningful differentiation and often introduce operational drag.
Heavy customisation also locks institutions into rigid configurations, limits their ability to take full advantage of technical advances such as cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms and AI, and drives ongoing expenditure on workarounds and specialist IT skills.
By recognising the constraints of legacy systems on operational efficiency and innovation, institutions can take a strategic approach to reduce technical debt and improve the experience of staff and students. The most effective approach is to identify friction and prioritise improvements that will have the greatest positive impact across the institution.
1. Start by Diagnosing Inefficiency
An evidence-based approach can help to overcome technology debt.
Take practical steps to map legacy systems and customisations to key stages in the student journey. This will identify where delays, duplicated effort and unclear or inconsistent processes cause information bottlenecks or frustration for students and staff.
Inefficiencies can be flagged using metrics such as manual processing times, student withdrawal rates at key transition points, and staff time lost to technical workarounds, which will help to uncover the true cost of inaction with regards technology debt.
Institutions that pair this analysis with information from sources such as student satisfaction surveys and equity data can build a stronger case for change with senior leadership and governance bodies.
2. Plan Systems Renewal Around Key Points in the Student Journey
One of the most powerful ways to translate tech debt into better outcomes is to focus the renewal of systems on key points in the student lifecycle.
This might be course application periods, the student onboarding process, progression checkpoints and the transition into work or further study, where technical issues can have a direct impact on students’ conversion, retention, and satisfaction levels.
Our teams across Australia and globally have observed that when institutions streamline these high-impact touchpoints as a priority, they can quickly see measurable gains in the proportion of students who complete their courses.
Taking a phased approach to system upgrades in this way also builds confidence as visible wins encourage senior leaders and staff to support ongoing digital transformation plans.
3. Design for Responsiveness and Lifelong Learning
In an era of capped international student enrolments, cost pressures and evolving student expectations, the ability to respond to the changing expectations of students and the workforce has become a strategic imperative for tertiary education institutions.
With technology debt minimised, institutions can explore how cloud-based SIS platforms built on open technology allow them to adapt and update systems quickly. It then becomes easier to introduce new lifelong learning programs, respond to policy or regulatory change, or refine processes as needs evolve.
At the student-facing level, AI-enabled chat and messaging tools can be introduced almost effortlessly so students can access information and plan their progress towards graduation, freeing staff to focus their time where it is most needed. Integrated data analytics can be included in to give institutions clearer visibility into student behaviour and emerging risks.
A more responsive technology infrastructure is needed to support the region’s lifelong and flexible learning pathways. By integrating tertiary education tech ecosystems with course credentialing tools such as the region’s My eQuals platform, institutions can offer stackable skills and recognise prior learning. Students can then maintain a portable digital record of their verified academic achievements that follows them throughout their careers.
4. Support Institution-Wide Cultural Change
Overcoming technology debt is as much about cultural change management as it is about upgrading platforms. Institutions can help smooth the adoption of new ways of working by creating teams of staff with technical, data management, and student support expertise who can deliver specific outcomes in a phased approach. This allows improvements to be tested and refined as digital transformation progresses.
Structured change management practices, combined with regular feedback from staff and students, combined with targeted training and support, can help to ensure a smooth roll-out of new systems and workflows. The impact of this change can be measured clearly and simply through the reduction of manual processing, faster implementation of policy changes, and improved outcomes for students.
Tertiary education institutions can gain many advantages from cutting the financial and operational burden of legacy systems. The steps institutions take to address it will support their commitment to deliver high-quality, flexible, and future-ready learning experiences for all students.
A Practical Roadmap to Reduce Tech Debt
- Diagnose inefficiency: Map where legacy systems slow students and staff down, and quantify the cost in time, withdrawals and missed opportunities, particularly for equity cohorts.
- Renew systems to maximise impact: Prioritise system upgrades at key stages in the student lifecycle, rather than replacing all systems at once.
- Place SIS at the heart of digital transformation: Standardise your core system and rationalise customisations to gain real-time insight, early intervention and continuous innovation.
- Design for interoperability and lifelong learning: Use API-first, cloud-based platforms and shared credentialing standards to allow student records and credentials to move seamlessly across systems and institutions.
- Manage change effectively: Build teams and cross-functional collaboration within the institution to implement change efficiently, reduce duplication, and spread expertise.
Cut technology debt in your institution and find out how Ellucian’s solutions can support you in delivering change.
