Young People are still referred to as digital natives, although numerous studies have shown differences in their access to digital devices, Internet usage and attitude towards digitalisation. Such differences can lead to digital inequalities. In higher education digital inequalities among students are scarcely researched as it is assumed that university students possess crucial digital competencies which they have acquired at school and in everyday life through the use of digital devices and applications. However, research findings suggest that students cannot directly transfer their digital skills to their study situation. The presented study aims to measure the degree of digitalisation by means of an index, the DDS-Index, which was developed in the context of a large-scale survey among first-semester students in Austria (n=4,822). The DDS-Index maps the degree of digitalisation of students on a range of 0 to 100 points. This paper outlines the development and assessment of the DDS-Index and uses it to analyse differences in the degree of digitalisation of students in order to draw conclusions about a digital divide at universities.

年轻人仍然被称为数字原住民，尽管许多研究表明他们在使用数字设备、互联网使用和对数字化的态度方面存在差异。这种差异可能导致数字不平等。在高等教育中，学生之间的数字不平等几乎没有被研究，因为人们认为大学生拥有他们在学校和日常生活中通过使用数字设备和应用程序获得的关键数字能力。然而，研究结果表明，学生不能直接将他们的数字技能转移到他们的学习环境中。本研究旨在通过 DDS 指数来衡量数字化程度，该指数是在奥地利第一学期学生（n = 4,822）的大规模调查背景下开发的。DDS-Index 将学生的数字化程度映射到 0 到 100 分的范围内。本文概述了 DDS 指数的开发和评估，并用它来分析学生数字化程度的差异，以得出关于大学数字鸿沟的结论。