Describing E-learning Development in European Higher Education Institutions Using a Balanced Scorecard

Abstract

This paper has strong links with the European Commission's statement on the initiative "E-learning: designing tomorrow's education", adopted on 24 May 2000. It tackles the question of how Higher Education Institutions (HEI) follow the development of and manage their e-learning activities. This emerged in work package no. 3 of the eLene-EE project (Economics of e-learning, 2006-2007), which examines the economic models of e-learning.

With the help of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC), designed by e-learning practitioners, and researchers in economy and management, the e-learning development of European institutions is described over a three-year period (2004-06). The BSC shows what is prioritized and how HEI act using four main dimensions: Financial, Customers/Students, Internal Business Process and Learning/Growth. Four examples, from the universities of Lublin (on behalf of the Polish Virtual University), the Centro METID in Milan (Politecnico di Milano), and the universities of Nancy and Nice Sophia Antipolis, show different stages of development, different strategic choices and underline common aspects that could be used to design e-learning evolution models in European HEI.

Although this approach is focused on information in the HEI management field, it suggests firstly that there is a need for more research and for the elaboration of theoretical tools to conceptualize trajectories of development, and secondly, the need for BSC to be extended to all areas of HEI in order to promote coherency of student education, research, continuing education and e-learning.