Technology spending in the global education sector is expected to exceed $67.8 billion in 2015.

Social and economic pressures are forcing senior education leaders to rethink business models and consider a range of new technologies, to bring down the cost of administering education institutions and scale the business, according to research from Gartner.

According to Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst Jan-Martin Lowendahl, traditional educational business models are being fundamentally challenged by digitalisation.

"An increasing number of technical innovations and technology trends are emerging from within the industry, but most will emerge outside the industry, driven by major forces such as digital business and the consumerisation and industrialisation of IT," Lowendahl says.

"Education sector CIOs need to take a broad approach and consider technologies from outside the education community, as well as looking for lessons from their peers,” he says. “Focus on those that are most appropriate to your institution's strategy."

Worldwide education sector spending is forecast to grow 2.3% to reach $67.8 billion in 2015, according to Gartner. This forecast includes higher education as well as primary and secondary schools.

In New Zealand, technology spending in the education sector will total NZ$362 million in 2015, an increase of 1.9% over 2014, compared with education institutions in Australia spending A$2.6 billion on technology products and services in 2015, up 4.9% from 2014.