The importance of higher education in the society can’t be underestimated.  However, the education as we know it has been going through some serious changes. Many institutes are turning into research facilities while migrating from the physical classrooms to online platforms.

Any educational service of today requires an IT infrastructure with the use of the most viral technologies to proceed with online and research activities. The new technologies are posing a challenge to the existing higher education institutions, bringing some of them to a crisis while helping others emerge in a new form.

It’s already obvious that using the technology in higher educations is essential to offering high-quality education to the students at all levels. The higher education organizations are going through tough times due to funding decrease. The marketing efforts aren’t as good as they used to be while cost-cutting measures are reflecting on the quality of the student body.

Is Cloud Computing Saving The Day?

For several years now, cloud computing (CC) has been a feasible way to save money while improving the operation of many organizations and companies. The rising IT needs of many institutions are not allowing them to avoid the cloud computing matter.

CC allows users to practice on-demand access to a wide variety of computing resources at a reasonable price. The cloud computing services are offered with minimal assistance or interaction with the provider, making them easy to use while exercising cost-cutting measures. Any user can access these services from any computer, which is connected to the high-speed internet.

The user doesn’t need to own hardware and software with high requirements since all the computing is done on a remote server.

Cloud Computing in Higher Education

The students of today don’t make a step without the Internet. Social media, online resources, email, etc. are among the things students have already mastered. They often face the need to take advantage of CC and they do it easily. Accordingly, they may be very surprised when they don’t find high-speed 24/7 access to digital technologies, including CC, at the institutes they consider attending. Cloud-based higher education software solutions can also be a great way to support collaborative learning.

Considering the needs of the students and the cost-cutting requirements of the higher education institutions, more and more organizations are requesting their IT specialists to provide the resources to create cloud-based strategies. More and more institutions are shifting toward adopting cloud-based services.

Cloud Computing and E-Learning

Many universities and colleges are taking their physical classrooms online and offering remote learning. CC allows these institutions to offer such classes by helping the students access the lectures from any gadget, which is connected to the internet.

At the same time, cloud storage allows higher education institutes to improve their storage capabilities at the lowest expense. These organizations usually have a huge amount of data to deal with, starting from student and staff personal information and ending with learning material. Keeping all this information on one server may result in a disaster if it fails.

Cloud-based storage offers quick and painless recovery of all the data stored there, helping the universities and colleges keep as much information as they need without worrying about physical backup.

Just as most companies, higher education institutions are looking for ways to make their work more efficient and less expensive. Cloud computing is one of the ways to make it happen today.

What About the Future?

Most institutions are already looking into the future, planning to increase the use of cloud computing. However, the budget limitations often stop them from proceeding. More than 60 percent of institutions surveyed plan to increase the use of cloud computing the next year. However, 21% reported that they plan to bring some services back to their physical form.

The majority of institutions have already implemented cloud computing and only a few are still in the process. The benefits of expanding the use of cloud computing in the future are obvious. In fact, it’ll most likely become impossible for higher education institutes to exist without it.