Digital technologies in higher education: from the pan-European vision to local university governance

Through the Bologna Process (1999), European countries initiated a development program devoted to building the European Higher Education Area to face digital challenges (ECER 2016) through the adoption of a shared Quality Assurance (QA) model (ENQA 2009), capable of running the enhancement of lifelong learning (LLL) opportunities through information and communication technologies. Over the years, many subsequent interventions have been promoted to confirm this vision and contribute to building a unique higher education (HE) space, through the adoption of certain standardsand tools in European policies. For these reasons, the project Empower Competences for “Onlife” Learning in HE (ECOLHE) has examined national policies for e-learning in HE specifically in the countries of the European Union through multiple case study approaches to study the transformation of key concepts, from the supranational level to the national level, while implementing inclusive LLL processes, based on digital technologies. This working paper presents an extract from this overarching project. The working paper aims to examine how universities, as the main unit of analysis, develop their strategic approaches to digitisation.