A Governance-Integrated Architecture and Maturity Model for Robotic Process Automation in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are increasingly adopting automation technologies to support digital transformation and improve administrative efficiency. However, automation initiatives in universities are often implemented in isolated departmental contexts, limiting their scalability and institutional impact. Existing studies primarily focus on operational use cases and implementation challenges, while relatively little attention has been devoted to the architectural and organizational foundations required to support institution-wide automation. This study addresses this gap by proposing a governance-integrated architectural framework and a corresponding maturity model for institutional automation in higher education. Using a design science research approach, the study first conducts a cross-platform architectural analysis of leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) ecosystems to identify recurring architectural invariants across contemporary automation platforms. These architectural invariants are subsequently abstracted into the Governance-Integrated RPA Architecture for Higher Education (GI-RPA-HE), a layered framework that integrates automation infrastructure with institutional governance, system interoperability, and analytical capabilities. The architecture also accommodates emerging AI-enabled and agentic automation capabilities. Building upon this architecture, the study further introduces the Automation Maturity Model for Higher Education Institutions (AMM-HEI), which conceptualizes the progressive development of institutional automation capabilities from isolated task automation toward AI-augmented and autonomous automation ecosystems. By linking maturity levels with architectural capabilities, the proposed framework provides both a conceptual foundation and a practical roadmap for universities seeking to scale automation initiatives as part of the digital transformation of higher education administration.