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Title:: Are Universities Lagging Behind the Times?: An Analysisfrom a Technological Perspective

Abstract:: The development and reform of universities are closely related to the progress in technology.A good case in point is the fact that the renaissance of modern university was inseparable from theinvention of printing technology in the mid-15th century and the system of research university has benefitedtremendously from the maturity of printing and publishing technologies since the 19th century. Since the1980s, human society has entered an information era where, supported by computers, digital technology hasdramatically developed. The monopoly of printing technology on knowledge production and transmissionhas been subverted by the rapid development of information technology, radically changing the university’stechnological environment for development and provoking a series of reforms in higher education. Facingchallenges from technological reform, the university is expected to adjust itself to the continuous technologicalreforms so as to achieve self-reform. To face the future, the demise of the traditional“real”universities can beavoided and the uniqueness and excellence kept only by means of technology in the long process of traditionaluniversities’ transformation into digital universities.