Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Routines of Higher Education Institutions: A Global Perspective

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disturbances in the work of hundreds of millions of people around the world. One of the groups affected is the academic staff at higher education institutions, whose original business model, i.e., presence teaching, suddenly changed to online learning. This has, in turn, exacerbated pre-existing problems such as shortage of time, busy schedules, and challenges to a work-life balance. Since academic staff plays a key role in respect of teaching and research, often acting as leaders in their fields, it is important to reflect on the influences of the lockdowns on their work routines. In order to address this research need, this paper reports on a study that examined the impacts of the lockdowns on the work of academic staff at universities. Using a bibliometric analysis and investigation of a set of case studies, the study sheds light on the difficulties encountered and the means deployed to address them. Our study did not identify a one-size-fits-all response to manage the manifold changes brought on HEIs by the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected arising priorities include creating a culture of educational resilience through a container of complementary measures.

Governance in the implementation of the UN sustainable development goals in higher education: global trends

“…In addition, the transformations that occurred following the COVID-19 pandemic have also received considerable attention, as the intersection between the clusters on the left side of the figure indicates. This relationship is expected to be an area that will gain more attention in the coming years, considering the increasing use of smart solutions and technologies in HEIs (Leal Filho et al, 2022b ; Sharifi et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Leadership in universities led to the mobilization of resources, expertise, and human resources that assisted in combating the spread of the disease while embodying adaptive resilience at an institutional level. Apart from support for teaching, HEIs leadership kept scientific research at universities ongoing and often acted as a catalyst for scientific and technological development, even during the pandemic's peak (Leal Filho et al, 2022a , 2022b , 2022c ). Many universities had leadership that could reorganize priorities to engage in research, support communities, reduce the pandemic's impacts, raise awareness, or disseminate data (Anholon et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Governance also plays a vital role in the entire management framework to promote campus sustainability through pedagogy, research, campus operations, and outreach. The role of governance in fostering sustainability at HEIs is also crucial in selecting campus sustainability plans and models, such as utilizing the university as a living laboratory and embedding universities within networks of regional social, environmental, and economic resilience (Leal Filho et al, 2022a, 2022b, 2022cYusoff et al, 2021). The success of governance in guiding campus sustainability planning and implementing initiatives relies heavily on factors such as strategic planning, leadership commitment, robust support, sustainability culture, effective communication, and feedback mechanisms (Abdullah et al, 2017).…”

Toward sustainability: a typology for non-placement work-based learning

“…The case for NPWBL as a sustainable approach COVID-19 changed the way we live, work and study. For many industries, including higher education, our service provision was adapted to online modes, exacerbating the pre-existing problems of large workloads, shortage of time, busy schedules and challenges seeking a work-life balance (Filho et al, 2022). In the context of WBL, the activity of building, maintaining and sustaining relationships with industry intensified due to the many changes organizations made to staffing and business models in order to remain operational.…”

“…COVID-19 changed the way we live, work and study. For many industries, including higher education, our service provision was adapted to online modes, exacerbating the pre-existing problems of large workloads, shortage of time, busy schedules and challenges seeking a work-life balance (Filho et al. , 2022).…”