Blockchain Technology in Higher Education Ecosystem: Unraveling the Good, Bad, and Ugly

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential, limitations, and challenges of integrating blockchain technology into higher education management systems, aiming to improve security, transparency, and efficiency amidst evolving data and privacy concerns.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of blockchain's benefits, drawbacks, and trade-offs in higher education, combining qualitative and quantitative insights from diverse stakeholders.

Findings

Blockchain can enhance security and transparency in education management.

Limitations include technical, regulatory, and adoption challenges.

The study offers insights to guide future implementation and policy decisions.

Abstract

The higher education management systems first identified and realized the trap of pitting innovation against privacy while first addressing COVID-19 social isolation challenges in 2020. In the age of data sprawl, we observe the situation has been exacerbating since then. Integrating blockchain technology has the potential to address the recent and emerging challenges in the higher education management system. This paper unravels the Good (scopes and benefits), Bad (limitations), and Ugly (challenges and trade-offs) of blockchain technology integration in the higher education management paradigm in the existing landscape. Our study adopts both qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore the experiences of educators, researchers, students, and other stakeholders and fully understand the blockchain's potential and contextual challenges. Our findings will envision an efficient, secure, and transparent higher education management system and help shape the debate (and trade-offs) pertaining to the recent shift in relevant business and management climate and regulatory sentiment.