Smart governance and its role in achieving digital transformation requirements: A survey study in selected Iraqi universities

Background With modern technology ever more entrenched in tertiary schooling, digital change has become an urgent necessity to enhance both the educational and administrative processes within universities. Anbar, Fallujah, and Maarif Universities now aim to adopt digital transformation strategies to improve academic and administrative efficiency while developing services provided to students and faculty. Within this framework, savvy governance plays a pivotal role in ensuring the application of principles like transparency, accountability, and participation, which are core factors for boosting the effectiveness of digital change. Literature indicates that integrating smart governance practices into higher education institutions contributes to achieving a modern and flexible educational environment with the dexterity to keep pace with technological progress. Methodology The research followed a descriptive and analytical approach. The method used was a questionnaire administered to a sample of 83 employees in positions (dean, assistant dean, department head) at the universities under study (Anbar University, Fallujah University, and Al-Maarif University). The study will be conducted over the period from April 7, 2025, to September 1, 2025. Results The descriptive results reveal that the university has consistently adopted smart governance tools, particularly the efficient use of the dimensions of transparency, participation, accountability, collaboration, and innovation, which have contributed to the universities’ transformation into a digital system. The study also demonstrated a high positive correlation of 0.93 between smart governance and digital transformation in the universities in the study area, confirming the close relationship between the studied variables. Conclusions Integrating smart governance with digital transformation plays a pivotal role in enhancing institutional efficiency by promoting transparency, accountability, and innovation. This contributes to improving service quality, increasing beneficiary satisfaction, and supporting sustainable development.