A Study on Information Technology Plan and Status of
University 2013
Tae-Yong Shim
1, Il-Jun Choi
2, Jin Kim
3and Young-Hun Lee
4 1Department of Information & Computing Center Tongwon University, [email protected]
2,3
Computer System Engineering Department JungWon University, [email protected], [email protected]
4
Department of Electronics Engineering, Hannam University [email protected], Corresponding Author
Abstract
This study is aimed at offering basic data for establishing higher education information policies and enforcing them in a reasonable and effective manner. To accomplish the objective, the following were conducted. First, the data on information status linked to the government's nationwide university information projects was studied and analyzed. Based on the results, information indicators were established. Second, interviews with university information experts and surveys were conducted. Based on the results, the university information level was diagnosed. It was aimed at securing basic data for solving various university information-related issues and making plans for developing information. The purpose of this study is as follows: promoting reasonable information investment with various factors such as university budget, personnel, and equipment and supporting operational efficiency; offering a guideline for developing university information and investment plans.
Keywords: Korean Education Network (KREN), University, ICT, Research Analysis
1. Introduction
Colleges have made efforts to develop and build efficient comprehensive information system and secure competitiveness of education, research and employment coping with a change in educational environment and improvement of work by development of informationization. The number of colleges making good use of improving quality of education and efficiency of education through development of informationization has increased.
Colleges should make efforts to increase information resources that serve as base for education so that informationization can change to qualitative growth which is suitable for knowledge information oriented information from quantitative change as information based education continues to expand. Data on informationization of colleges should be collected and managed to cope with qualitative growth and grasp the level of informationization of colleges[1-4].
The purpose of this study is to provide basic materials for establishing and implementing higher education informationization policy. Informationization index was drawn by researching and analyzing status of informationization and literature. Basic data for solving informationization related problems and a plan for development was secured by diagnosing the level of informationization of colleges through interview and survey on experts of informationization in universities. The findings of this study may serve as guideline when making a plan for development of informationization that colleges promote and may help efficiency of efficiency of operation and make a reasonable guidance of investment.
2. Research Method
2.1. Development of Questionnaires
Research and cases at home and abroad were analyzed to develop index to survey and analyze the state of college informationization [5-13]. Basic framework of questionnaires that developed in research for three years supported by Korea Education Network (KREN) was kept and questionnaires which were excessively descriptive and questionnaires on specific vendor were reduced and questionnaires required in new information environment were added [7-8]. The questionnaires of this study were composed of general area, information system area, information network area, information security area, education and service area, and other areas as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Survey Configuration
Areas of survey Content
General areas (29)
general aspects of agencies to be surveyed, organization and human resources, an organization in charge of informationization, budget for informationization, informationization education, plan on informationization, promotion of informationization, CIO interest area
Information system area (18)
server, general administration/school affair/research information system, main system platform environment, introduction of system and plan, backup method, data center, next generation informationization system, cloud service
Information network area (25)
wire information network, IP address and DNS, network management, wireless LAN, maintenance
Information security
area (19) information security, PC security, server and network security
Education and service area (31)
equipment for rental of students, limit of concurrent access when registering for courses, representative homepage, homepage of department and professors, smart service, survey of satisfaction, fixed mobile convergence service, commercial SW, virtual course(e-learning) and on-line content service
College informationization survey use area (5)
use of findings of research, reflection of opinion in government policy
※ Number in ( ) is the number of questionnaires.
2.2. Scope and Method of Survey
A survey for 366 colleges that were related to Korea Education Network (KREN) was conducted by using on-line survey system of Korea Education Network (KREN) in order to survey the state of college informationization. Phone, mail and SMS surveys were used to enhance response rate of survey.
Survey period ranged from October 7, 2013 to October 18, 2013 but the period was extended until November 1, 2013 at the request of universities. Error data was corrected after reviewing input values and making inquiries of data which was presumed to be erroneous in order to secure reliability of input data. Survey from 25 colleges that correction of erroneous data was not made was excluded.
2.3. Survey Response Rate
297 colleges out of 366 colleges responded to survey (81.8%) which increased by 20.7% over 2012 [8]. 25 colleges which made an unfaithful reply to survey out of 297 colleges were excluded. Survey from 272 colleges was applied for this study. As far as enrollment quota of colleges whose survey was applied for this study was concerned, 59.56% was four-year-course colleges, 33.82% was two-year-four-year-course colleges and 6.62% was three-year-four-year-course colleges. As far as the number of students was concerned, less than 5,000 students was 49.26%, 5,000∼10,000 students was 25.37%, 10,000∼15,000 students was 10.29%, 15,000∼20,000 students was 5.15%, and more than 20,000 was 9.93%.
Table 2. Comparison of Survey Response Rate by year
Year Number of colleges to be surveyed
Number of colleges that
responded Survey response rates
KREN 2011 414 233 56.3%
KREN 2012 364 221 60.7%
KREN 2013 366 297 81.1%
3. State of Colleges Informationization
3.1. General Area
As far as general area was concerned, position of chief information officer (CIO), organization of informationization committee, personnel in charge of informationization, budget for informationization, informationization education, comprehensive plan for informationization, difficulties with promotion of informationization, CIO's interest level were surveyed. 95% of the colleges surveyed have CIO. In 3.7% of the colleges, vice president held a position of CIO with vice president. In 48.5% of the college academic affair committee member held a position of CIO with academic affair committee member. In 52.2% of the colleges, vice president or academic affair committee member held a position of CIO with vice president or academic affair committee member. 74.6% of the colleges have informationization committee. 61.4% of the colleges have informationization department. As far as personnel working in informationization department, regular position was 57.5 which decreased 15% over last year while temporary position was 16.8% and outsourcing was 25.7% which increased over last year. Average budget for informationization was 906 million won. Average total budget was 187,500 million won. Budget for informationization counted for 0.5% of total budget. As far as education that personnel working for informationization department take in 2012 was concerned, 35.4% took information security (personal information protection) related education and 27.9% took development environment and tool related education. Colleges that had long term informationization plan of over 5 years were
39%. Colleges that had mid-term informationization plan of 3∼4 years were 31.8%. Colleges that did not have informationization plan were 14.6%. As far as difficulties with promotion of informationization was concerned, insufficient budget was 44.6%, insufficient human resources was 34.1%, and insufficient mental attitude was 9.5%. CIO's interest (multiple response was allowed), improvement of college management efficiency through IT was 73.5% followed by support for IT service access (43.8%).
3.2. Information System Area
As far as information system area was concerned, state of information system server, information system operation method, school affair administration information system user authentication method, backup system operation, data center operation, direction of building next generation informationization system, cloud service provision, and cloud service provision types were surveyed. As far as number of servers possessed according to server size was concerned, number of small size server was 18 and number of medium size server was 6.7. As far as information system introduction method was concerned, development by subcontractors was prevalent in research administration system, general administration system, and school administration system. As far as school administration system was concerned, development by subcontractors was 49.2%, self-development or development by subcontractors was 33.8%, self-development was 14.7%, and introduction of commercial package was 1.9%. As far as school administration system was concerned, self-operation was 66.3% and combining self-operation with outsourcing was 22%. As far as school affair administration information system user authentication method was concerned, assigning ID and password faculty and students was 56.6% and using public key with ID/password was 34.8%. As far as information system server platform environment was concerned, number of CPU was 4.5, number of Core was 11.6, and memory was 43.5GB. 92.1% of the colleges operated back up system and 70.6% of the colleges out of the colleges that operated back up system had long-distance backup or storage of separate place. Colleges operating data center within campus was 80.8% and colleges that did not operate data center was 14.3%. As far as direction of building next generation informationization system was concerned, SI was 71.6% and introduction of ERP was 28.4%. Most of the colleges plan to build next generation informationization system through SI. As far as cloud service was concerned, colleges that did not provide cloud service were 94.4%. As far as colleges that provided cloud service was concerned, SaaS was 60%, PaaS was 20% and IaaS was 20%. As far as type of service was concerned, storage was 40% and mail was 26.7%.
3.3. Information Network Area
As far as information network area was concerned, construction of wire network, internet backbone network connection, IP address possession, network management, method of building wireless LAN and method of maintaining information network were surveyed. As far as information network was concerned, 98.1% of the colleges operated wire information network which increased by 1.9% over last year. As far as internet backbone network was concerned, 94.3% of the colleges used Ethernet. As far as IP address was concerned, B class address was KREN (58.3%), LG U+(22.9%),and KT (14.6%) while C class address was KREN (52.6%), KT (22.8%), and LG U+(11.8%). As far as DNS operation method was concerned, using general server was 61.2% and using equipment for exclusive use of DNS was 32.7%. As far as network management was concerned, colleges that operated network management system(NMS) was 50% and colleges that used both NMS and NAC was 9.6% and colleges that did not network management system was 35.8%. 95% of the colleges did
not consider operating next generation internet address (IPv6) and 1.9% of the colleges operated next generation internet address (IPv6). As far as method of building wireless LAN was concerned, building wireless LAN through collaboration of college and telecommunication operator was 41.2% and building wireless LAN through telecommunication operator was 26.1%. Building wireless LAN through telecommunication operator has increased. As far as method of maintaining information network, maintaining server, network and computer in an integrated manner was 35.4% and maintaining separately was 61.5%.
Figure 1. Average ICT Budget / Information Difficulty when Driving / CIO Concern Status
3.4. Information Security Area
As far as information security was concerned, number of information security certificate holders, number of personnel in charge of information protection, information protection operation, method of operating against infringement, connection risk management system and ECSC, compulsory duty in accordance with PC use and server and network security system operation were surveyed. Though information security is important, the colleges that had over one information security certificate holders was 12.9% while the colleges that did not have information security certificate holders was 85.7%. The colleges that had personnel in charge of information protection was 19.8% which increased by 4% over last year. 38.5% of the colleges had a person in charge of network deal with information protection, 24% of the colleges had a person in charge of server deal with information protection, and 22.1% of the colleges had a person in charge of other than information protection deal with information protection. The colleges that had an organization coping with infringement were 59.1% and the colleges that did not have an organization coping with infringement were 30.3%. The colleges that connected Educational Cyber Safety Center (ECSC) and Security Information Management System (TMS, SIMS) were 84.5%. The colleges that had compulsory duty for PC use with the aim of strengthening information security were 73.6% and the colleges that operated server and network safety system was 98.1%. Information security showed lower informationization than other area despite its importance.
3.5. Education and Service Area
As far as education and service was concerned, possession of equipment for rental of students, limit of concurrent access when registering for courses, cycle of complete reorganization of college homepage, types of homepage of departments and professors, provision of smart service, requirements for providing or expanding smart service, satisfaction with information service, intention to participate in group purchase of SW, and virtual course and on-line contents service were surveyed. As far as equipment for rental of students was concerned, notebook computer/netbook was 26.8%, and tablet was 8.5%. The colleges that did not limit concurrent access when registering for courses were 62.3%. As far as college homepage was concerned, complete reorganization of homepage every 3 years was 26.8% and complete reorganization of homepage every 5 years was 18.9%. As far as support and operation of homepage of departments and professors were concerned, support of construction and maintenance was 68.8%, provision of tools for construction was 14.7%, and design support was 9.9%. As far as service type was concerned, the colleges providing homepage service were 92.2% and the colleges providing cafe service was 15.5%. The colleges providing smart service were 68.3% and the colleges providing notice service was 70.7% and the colleges providing school affair administration service such as signing up for courses and check of result was 55.8%. The colleges surveyed said that the most urgent was securing contents for providing or expanding smart service (41.6%) followed by securing workers (29%). As far as implementation of survey of satisfaction with information service was concerned, the colleges that implemented survey of satisfaction with information service was 38.3% while the colleges that did not implement survey of satisfaction with information service was 61.7%. As far as intention to participate in group purchase of SW was concerned, the colleges that had intention of participating in group purchase of SW were 74.3%. The colleges that had intention of participating in group purchase of SW if 20% of purchasing cost could be reduced were 58.4%. The colleges that provided virtual course and on-line contents was 54%. The colleges surveyed said that the most necessary to provide virtual course and on-line content service was lecturers and education contents (93%) which suggests that lecturers and education are insufficient.
Figure 2. Average ICT Budget / Information Difficulty when Driving / CIO Concern Status
4. Conclusion
In this section, proposals to improve informationization of colleges based on result of evaluating informationization level of colleges were made.
First, it is necessary to enhance position of Chief Information Officer(CIO) and secure budget for informationization in order to improve management efficiency through IT. As shown in Figure 1, the colleges which had vice president serve as CIO was 3.7%. If a person who did not have the right to decide policy served as CIO, securing budget for informationization and workers was limited. Securing security equipment for information system and experts is needed to make and promote informationization policy.
Second, it is necessary to secure workers who will work for information security and increase informationization education. As shown in Figure 2, the colleges that have persons in charge of information protection increased by 4% over last year. The colleges that do not have information security certificate holder were 85.7%. The colleges that did not have a team to cope with infringement were 30.3%.
Third, it is necessary to develop various contents and expand wireless network because provision of smart service has increased. As shown in Figure 3, it is important to expand wireless network because the use of information service has increased. Though the use of smart service increased rapidly, colleges provided only certain services such as notice service and registration service. It is necessary to develop various contents in order to meet the needs of people.
Fourth, evaluation index of informationization is necessary when evaluating government's funding. Evaluation index of informationization is not included in items that evaluate funding. It is difficult for CIO with lower position to secure budget for informationization because colleges cannot help focus on items which are related to budget or financial support project.
Fifth, it is necessary for government to support Korea Education Network. Almost all colleges join Korea Education Network and share information. Support for Korea Education Network help colleges build computer network. It is essential for government to continue supporting Korea Education Network so that Korea Education Network can serve as agency through which colleges share useful information and exchange it.
References
[1] Korea Education and Research Information Service, "Education Information White Paper 2012", Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, (2012).
[2] Korea Association of Regional Information, "Information Statistical Data of 2012", Ministry of Public Administration and Security, (2012).
[3] Korean Council for University Information, "University Information White Paper", Korean Council for University Information, (2012).
[4] Korea Education and Research Information Service, "Analysis sourcebook of the university information technology services", Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, (2010).
[5] Leah Lang and Pam Arroway, "2012 CDS Executive Summary Report", EDUCAUSE, (2013) January. [6] Susan Grajek and Pam Arroway, "The EDUCAUSE 2011 Core Data Service Report", EDUCAUSE, (2012)
January.
[7] Gyeongsang National University, "Study on University Information Status and Analysis in 2011", Korea Education Network Operations Division, (2011).
[8] I-BIZNET, "Study on University Information Status and Analysis in 2012", Korea Education Network Operations Division, (2012).
[9] http://www.educause.edu. [10] http://www.ucisa.ac.uk. [11] http://www.futurelab.org.uk. [12] http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org.
[13] http://ec.europa.eu
Authors
Tae-Yong Shim is a Administrator in the Department of Information
& Computer Center in TongWon University, kyeonggido, Korea. He received his Ph.D. from Chungbuk National University. His current research interests are in the areas of System Administrator and Network Security. He is a member of the Korea Institute of Information Technology.
Il-Jun Choi is a professor in the Department of Computer System
Engineering in JungWon University, Chungbuk, Korea. He received his Ph.D. from Chungbuk National University. His current research interests are in the areas of Network Design and Network Security and Hadoop Cluster. He is a member of the Korea Institute of Information Technology.
Jin Kim is a professor in the Department of Computer System
Engineering in JungWon University, Chungbuk, Korea. He received his Ph.D. from Chungbuk National University. His current research interests are in the areas of Network Security and Information Security. He is a member of the Korea Institute of Information Technology.
Young-Hun Lee
1973. Electronics Engineering, Donga University
1980. M.S. Electronics Engineering, Soongsil University 1984. Ph. D. Electronics Engineering, KyoungHee University Present. Professor in Electronics Engineering, Hannam University Major Field: Hybrid Circuit Design
