Digital Governance Policy in Higher Education: Where Sri Lanka Stands?

Abstract

Digital governance has become increasingly significant in higher education, from policy-making to instructional innovation in the global context. Sri Lanka initiated the process of integrating digital governance in higher education as part of a National Digitalisation Framework. Despite the initial policy proposal, the effective implementation across higher educational institutions seems to be lagging. Thus, this study explores current trends in digital governance in higher education in Sri Lanka, highlighting national strategies and attempts. Additionally, the review explored emerging challenges of the integration of digital governance, such as digital devices, and the decline in academic integrity. This study employed a qualitative comparative approach to examine the current context of integration of digital governance in higher education in Sri Lanka. A systematic literature search was carried out for peer-reviewed journal articles, case studies, reviews (published in databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar), policy documents, and institutional reports published between 2015 and 2025 using the keywords “digital governance in higher education in Sri Lanka”. The available literature on digital governance in higher education in Sri Lanka mostly reflects the state of policies and frameworks, and the evolution of policy development is presented in this review. A few empirical studies have been carried out on the usage of digital tools by students and educators at the institutional level. Concerns over data privacy & security, and equity in digital infrastructure & literacy have been identified as key challenges that constrained the effective integration of digital governance in higher education. This review highlights the limitations of studies conducted on the effect of digitalisation on functional aspects of governance. This review further identifies the limitations in the development of a comprehensive policy on the integration of digital governance into higher educational institutes and looks ahead to provide recommendations for developing a policy framework for digital governance strategies, emphasising the sustainability and collaboration for quality higher education.