Digital Transformation of a University as a Factor of Ensuring Its Competitiveness

Digital economy brings new opportunities and threats to modern reality, covering almost all the fields of life of the population, including education. Digital economy opens up new strengths and weaknesses of a university. In this regard, a relevant task is to determine a set of goals for the development of the university and ensure movement towards these goals. The transition from the University 3.0 model to the University 4.0 model involves a comprehensive transformation of all processes in a university. Taking into account that the innovative educational and entrepreneurial activities played a leading role in the previous model, it is advisable, first of all, to ensure the digital transformation of these processes during the transition to the new model. An important factor in ensuring the competitiveness of a modern university is the digitalisation of its services. In the modern realities of the development of digital economy, universities are facing the need for digital transformation, the essence of which is based not only on the introduction of digital technologies in the activities of universities, but also on the cultural and organisational changes. The main features of the digitalisation process of the universities shall be: the university's orientation on the implementation of “smart manufacturing”; the use of digital communication technologies in the educational process; the introduction of network and distance learning; the development of basic information services; the creation and implementation of the “digital university management” service. Thus, digital transformation of the universities will make it possible for teachers, students, applicants and partners to provide more opportunities in the context of digitalisation. The transformation is impossible without the development and implementation of a digitalisation strategy that takes into account the features and specific nature of the university.