Advancing digital literacy in higher education through pedagogical innovations and institutional strategies between 2014 and 2025

As higher education undergoes rapid digital transformation, digital literacy has become a foundational competency for students and faculty. This systematic review synthesizes the ways in which pedagogical innovations and institutional strategies support digital literacy in higher education. We draw on 62 empirical studies published between 2014 and 2025, following PRISMA reporting standards. We identify eight thematic domains: teacher identity, learner agency, pedagogical innovations, institutional strategies, faculty competence, student engagement, assessment practices, and implementation barriers. The synthesis is grounded in DigComp, DigCompEdu, the Technology Acceptance Model, and connectivism. Flipped classrooms, gamification, and multimodal instruction are consistently associated with improvements in digital competence and student motivation. Faculty development and institutional leadership are pivotal enablers of sustainable digital literacy integration. Persistent challenges include infrastructure limitations, policy misalignment, and cultural resistance, particularly in under-resourced settings. This review offers policy-relevant insights for curriculum design and institutional reform, advocating for context-responsive strategies to integrate digital literacy. Limitations include reliance mainly on Scopus-indexed literature and heterogeneity of study designs, which precluded meta-analysis. We recommend longitudinal and comparative studies to examine long-term impacts.