Post Pandemic Paradigm Shift in Higher Education: A New Global Perspective

Post Pandemic Paradigm Shift in Higher Education: A New Global Perspective

What to expect from Covid 19 pandemic: Timing, spread, and intensity vary a lot among countries. The impact is very uneven.  Post pandemic recovery will also be very uneven.  Immunity after the infection seems to be limited.  The real risk of the global recession. The service sector really hit.  

Immediate disruption in education: affecting learning opportunities of students worldwide. Impressive switch to distance education, online learning, e-learning, and mixed modes delivery. Disruption in assessments and end-of-year examinations disrupts study progressions. 

Financial Impact: As the stream of international students is drying up, institutions dependent on fee-paying students will suffer very much. Education hit hardest as coronavirus batters UK economy.  Hundreds of university staff to be made redundant due to coronavirus. Like in any crisis – students are postponing graduation to avoid entering a labor market in crisis. Higher education students are perceived to be high-risk – contaminators. 

Huge drop in Chinese student enrolment. Asian students look to regional opportunities. Admission procedures seriously disrupted. Also, intra-European mobility will be affected. The capacity of many institutions to replace face-to-face delivery with various models of distance education should be praised. Still a lot of work to be done in assessment, evaluation, career guidance, etc.

The Covid-19 pandemic will reinforce hierarchies in the global higher education landscape. Institutions with large endowments of other financial buffers will be more resilient than vulnerable ones. Huge losses because of departure of fee-paying. 

Conclusion: 

The continuous rise of universities in global rankings will be confirmed and reinforced. Post pandemic is not going to reduce demand for higher education. Education is a necessity. It is a great opportunity for those who can survive the pandemic. Pandemic will accelerate traditional classrooms to self-directed learning. Do we actually need lecture halls?? Interactive digital content development. Involvement of Online content experts each moment.