RISK GOVERNANCE IN THE DIGITAL CULTURE OF COLOMBIAN SMART UNIVERSITIES

This article examines the role of digital risk governance in shaping the transformation of higher education institutions into Smart Universities within the Colombian context. Grounded in a conceptual and documentary analysis of literature (2018-2025), international standards, and national public policies, the study explores how digital culture influences institutional exposure to technological, ethical, legal, organizational, and reputational risks. The research adopts a systemic perspective of risk governance, understood as a framework of decisions, actors, processes, and norms that enable the identification, assessment, management, and communication of risks in complex digital environments. It argues that digital transformation in universities cannot be reduced to technological adoption; rather, it involves a deep reconfiguration of organizational culture, leadership, and institutional capabilities. In this sense, digital culture is conceptualized as both an enabler of innovation and a source of new vulnerabilities, particularly in areas such as data governance, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence ethics, and institutional trust. The article identifies key challenges associated with fragmented digitalization, resistance to organizational change, lack of digital competencies, and insufficient alignment between institutional strategies and national regulatory frameworks. To address these challenges, it proposes a set of operational governance guidelines structured around policies, roles, control mechanisms, and performance metrics, enabling traceability between risk exposure and institutional decision-making. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for a human-centered and participatory governance approach aligned with emerging paradigms such as Industry 5.0, emphasizing ethical responsibility, sustainability, and stakeholder engagement. The findings contribute to bridging the gap between policy and practice by offering a contextualized framework for strengthening digital risk governance in Colombian higher education institutions, supporting resilient, inclusive, and accountable digital transformation processes.