Academic roles and competences in transition: digital transformation and university governance

Introduction – Digital transformation is reshaping academic work, governance, and professional identities in higher education in profound and often contradictory ways. This paper examines how these processes unfold across different phases of digitalization, with particular attention to the tension between emergency-driven change and its longer-term institutionalization. Methods – The study draws on findings from the European project ECOLHE (Empower Competences for Learning in Higher Education, 2020–2023) — a multiple case study involving six universities across five European countries — and an ongoing qualitative follow-up study based on semi-structured interviews with faculty members from Italian universities. The paper adopts a longitudinal and comparative design aimed at tracing continuities and discontinuities across the two phases. Theoretically, it is grounded in a socio-technical and socio-organizational perspective integrating research on neoliberal governance in higher education, academic professionalism and competence, and the processes of datafication and platformisation increasingly shaping institutional life. Results – The findings confirm the intrinsically ambivalent nature of digital transformation. While digital technologies enable innovation in teaching and greater organizational flexibility, they also intensify workloads, reinforce bureaucratic pressures, and foster data-driven forms of governance aligned with performance-based and metric-oriented logics. The follow-up analysis highlights both continuity and discontinuity: previously identified tensions are not only confirmed but amplified and institutionalized, while new dynamics emerge, including the growing role of artificial intelligence and the increasing centrality of platforms in structuring academic practices and decision-making processes. The data also reveal an inversion of the theoretical sequence: universities underwent rapid digital transition driven by emergency, without a prior process of digital transformation, which is now emerging unevenly in the post-pandemic phase. Discussion – Digital transformation should be interpreted as a socio-political and institutional process rather than a neutral technological shift. Its sustainability depends on universities' capacity to govern these changes reflexively, counterbalance technocratic and market-driven pressures, support collective learning and faculty development, and recognize the evolving and hybrid nature of academic professionalism. The findings carry implications for university governance, higher education policy, and the pursuit of quality, inclusive, and sustainable education in line with SDG 4 of the 2030 Agenda.