5th Annual Microsoft Campus Connections Summit

Last week we hosted the 5th annual Microsoft Campus Connections Summit (CCS). CCS is a global event to encourage open dialogue on digital transformation between Microsoft and higher education leaders. This year we were excited to welcome CCS attendees virtually, enabling us to reach more higher education leaders from all corners of the globe. The sessions provided insights and best practices from many of our customers and inspiring examples on how, even during these challenging times, we can learn from each other, innovate, and accelerate our opportunity moving forward. While things certainly aren’t the way they used to be pre-pandemic, as it was so eloquently stated in a Post-Covid Campus panel at this year’s CCS, “We have to move past the grief. We have to help people see the opportunity.” That’s our job as leaders: to be strategic, to plan, to pivot when needed, and to face all challenges with purpose. Most of all, it’s our job to make the tough decisions for the good of all the people and institutions we serve.

The challenges facing higher education have remained constant, but the pandemic has amplified the intensity and impact, setting the foundation for a deeper journey with digital transformation. We’ve spent the greater part of the past 4 years of CCS working with many higher education leaders on how to think about digital transformation and how to develop a strategy to align with an institution’s strategic plan and mission. So what has changed? We’ve changed. In the face of a cataclysmic event, the psychological and cultural barriers which have resisted change have been swept up in a wave of necessity. What was opportunity is now imperative. We have the technology to enable personalized learning experiences which we all know leads to better student outcomes. We have the technology to scale research collaboration globally. We have the technology to support more efficient and effective campus operations and ensure the digital safety of higher education institutions, faculty, staff, and students. Let’s work together to move past a response and recovery from the pandemic and reimagine a higher education that is accessible, affordable, and inclusive for all.

Let’s keep the dialogue going!

Join the Microsoft Higher Education Community https://aka.ms/HEDcommunity/join. You can go there to view recordings and access resources from this year’s CCS. More importantly, we hope you remain in the community to share and learn from your peers globally on key topics such as teaching and learning, future-ready skills, student success, and academic research. Microsoft has also collaborated with the Times Higher Education, Arizona State University, and Cintana to launch THE Campus https://timeshighereducation.com/campus, a place where university faculty and staff can share ideas, learn, and connect with their peers to support and advance online teaching in higher education.