Reflecting about emerging practices and critical challenges in HE in the age of data

The digitalization of processes and services has been considered a form of innovation. More recently, it has laid the foundations for the later phenomenon of datafication. Initially favourable discourses embraced data-driven practices as an opportunity to improve efficiency, objectivity, transparency and innovation. The two main missions in Higher Education, teaching and research, went through several processes of digitalization that encompassed data-intensive practices. While there is doubtless value in these developments, there are debates relating  the power of algorithms to predict, support or address educational and social processes. There is a claim for fairness and equity in the use of such technologies. Beyond a dystopian vision, data cultures in Higher Education should be unveiled, revisiting the new contingencies that the datafication imposes to the relationships between teachers and students and between the university and the society.

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