IT Governance In The Process Of The Higher Education Informatization In The United States

Higher education informatization gradually advances toward the depth, in order to drive implementation of innovative change of the higher education business process reengineering and restructuring under the support of technology, and promote the deep fusion of information technology with university’s core areas such as teaching, scientific researching and management. However, in the process of information technology reforming higher education, the potential problems in university information construction systems and mechanisms exposed gradually. Most universities pay attention to instrumental value of information technology rather than the transformative effects of it, that restricts the construction process and results of higher education informatization to some extent. The production and application of IT Governance in higher education creatively raise university informatization construction up to the strategic level, opening up a new train of thought for the higher education informatization.This study is based on the background of the process of American higher education informatization. First of all, it introduces the origin and development of IT Governance in higher education informatization of the United States, to trace the historical logic and reality inevitability of the production of it. The predecessor of IT Governance is IT Management, the process of IT Governance transformation reveals that IT Governance is an informatization construction system which is multidisciplinary collaborative and multiple population participating in. Finally, the study interprets the transformational and innovative value of IT Governance as the core element of higher education governance.Based on the interpretation of concept, this study adopts the research methods of literature research and interview investigation, carding and refactoring the core connotation of IT Governance in the process of higher education informatization in the United States from the perspective of governance system and governance capacities, then puts forward to an IT Governance system and IT Governance capacities. For the first, the organizational structure, implementation process and relationship mechanism constitute the basic framework, the union of strategy, value, risk, resources and performance is the core idea. For the second, the strategic decision-making capacity, systemic integrated coordination capacity and informatization change capacity are the main body. The core idea of the above two is IT Governance structure and IT leadership. At the same time, IT GRC project provides an opportunity to prospect the innovative development and future trend of IT Governance.In order to understand the organization and practice of IT Governance in American universities furtherly, this study chooses the university of Michigan as a case, and makes a comprehensive and systematic analysis of its construction and development, tactical strategy as well as the future trends of the IT Governance, then sums up to three pieces of Michigan Experience:with strategic planning and change management to promote informatization construction; with strong governance system and diversified leadership to promote the implementation of core mission; with self-censorship and self-improvement to ensure informatization construction sustainable development.To sum up, the field of higher education in the United States relies on the authority institutes to promote the research and practice of IT Governance, emphasizes IT leadership and university leadership to participate and lead IT Governance, strengthens more groups to participate in the construction and adopt responsibilities clear governance processes, advocates unification of university informatization construction and the overall strategic goal, and conforms to the trend of times to promote college informatization change. The American Experience of IT Governance in Higher education is the benchmark of higher education informatization development, undoubtedly it offers a new way and reference to our country’s higher education informatization construction.