HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: A CASE FOR I.T.-DRIVEN BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING? D. S. STAMOULIS 1 , G. N. MENTZAS 2 , D. I. MARTAKOS 1 1 Department of Informatics, Faculty of Science, University of Athens, Ktiria TYPA, GR-157 71 ATHENS, HELLAS e-mail: dimitri@di.uoa.gr martakos@di.uoa.gr 2 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens,42, 28th October St., 10682 ATHENS, HELLAS e-mail: gmentzas@softlab.ntua.gr ABSTRACT Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) find themselves - much like today’s businesses - amidst a turbulent environment with significant opportunities, distinct threats and a role much broader than ever before. The paper aims to analyze the applicability and usefulness of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) principles and techniques in HEIs, and answer the question of the role of I.T. To set the scene right and tackle this question the paper examines the required (re)definition of a HEI’s business mission, strategic objectives, organizational structure and culture and proceeds with two strategic analyses: a situational and a SWOT analysis. The move to the process perspective is facilitated by adopting a coarse-grained approach for the examination of three processes: teaching, research and administrative support. The enabling role of Information Technology is then examined for these processes and a generic information systems strategy and information architecture are developed. In addition quantitative metrics are developed in order to facilitate benchmarking analyses. Finally, the paper outlines the major strengths and weaknesses the HEIs may face when embarking in the radical IT-enabled redesign of teaching processes. 1. INTRODUCTION “Change is occurring in organization cultures, managerial and academic structures, funding mechanisms, accountability, student profiles, disciplinary boundaries, organization of teaching and research to name just a few. This change is to a great extent being enabled by, if not driven by, advances in Information Technology. [...] McFarlane and Scott, among others, have pointed to the potentially transformative impact of IT on universities” (Allen & Wilson, Proceedings of the Fifth European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS'97) pp. 441-459, Cork Publishing Ltd., Cork. (ISBN 1-86076-953-5) Σ-12