| DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND SUSTAINABILITY: LESSONS FOR DISADVANTAGED UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA |
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Marongwe Newlin[1], Dagogo William Legg Jack[2] Abstract The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for sectors, including higher education, to adopt technology to ensure the sustainability of teaching and learning practices. This prompted extensive discussions within higher education research about the role of digital education in sustainability. This paper contributes to these debates, examining how technological integration has reshaped higher education institutions, unveiling opportunities and challenges that warrant scholarly attention. Higher education institutions must embrace transformative pedagogy, content, methods, and technology changes to address global sustainability needs. Digital education is pivotal in advancing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Employing qualitative content analysis, this conceptual paper investigates the digital transformation and sustainability of higher education in disadvantaged South African universities, focusing on six themes: the role of technology in digital learning, the transformation of higher education, the identification and enhancement of digital education resources, strategies for maintaining digital education, and the prospects of these strategies. The paper provides practical implications for implementing digital education in South Africa's disadvantaged higher education institutions, highlighting opportunities and threats that influence digital education policies. It concludes that some threats have been converted into opportunities through strategic adoption by these universities, aligning their visions with the UN's SDGs, AU's Agenda 2063, South Africa's National Development Plan 2030, and the imperatives of the 4th and 5th Industrial Revolutions, which emphasise complex problem-solving skills. Keywords: Digital Education, Transformation, Higher Education, Sustainability, Lifelong Learning [1] Ph.d. Marongwe Newlin is a professor at the Centre for Professional Teacher Development (CPTD), Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa (mutetwanewlyn (at) @gmail.com) [2] Ph.d. Dagogo William Legg-Jack is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Open and Distance Learning, College of Education, University of South Africa. (legjadw (at) unisa.ac.za) Cite this article:
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