Digital Transformation challenge for Italian Universities’ education: isomorphism or hybridization?

Introduction. In the current socio economic scenario, the acceleration driven by the digitalization processes characterized by the exchange and sharing of fluid and participatory knowledge among different social actors, both individual and collective, is contributing to the definition of an innovative paradigm that involves the introduction of new communication structures with significant implications in terms of model organization, as well as skills and new professional roles. In particular, among other aspects, the digitalization process requires organizations to redefine their structure and update their human resources to survive the competition. In this scenario, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) play a strategic role in the educational and learning process; this condition is reinforced by the European regulatory framework (Digital Education Action Plan, 2021 2027) which aims to support the adaptation of education and training systems to the digital era. Purpose of the paper. The contribution aims to propose an analysis of the educational offerings developed by Italian U niversities, focusing on the theme of digitalization for the competitiveness enhancement of socio economic organizations. The intention is to examine how Italian universities participate in the formalization and dissemination of educational and training programs aimed at preparing professional profiles consistent with the Digital Transformation process Main findings. An increasing attention is expected to be observed towards the training of professional profiles capable of guiding entrepreneurial organizations, and more, towards their future in the context of Industry 4.0. This is due to the definition of new educational scenarios resulting from the hybridization of canonical paths in the perspective of trans disciplinarity. Type of paper. Empirical . For this purpose, the authors will focus on the educational programs activated by Italian U niversities from the academic year 2019 2020 to date (database: universitaly.it) within the Master s Degree Programmes in “Techniques and Methods for the Information Society” (Italian class es LM 91 and LM Data The analysis will be conducted based on Annual Unique Course Sheet for the period 2019 2023. This focus will “unveil” the intention/direction that Italian U niversities are taking in terms of advanced education oriented towards digitalization and its nature, attributable to processes of social legitimation and institutional isomorphism or inspired by elements of intrinsic technical rationality.