Authors :
Gwebente Mudenda; Dr Burton Mweemba; Edwin Bbenkele; Boyd Longwe; Windu Matoka
Volume/Issue :
Volume 7 - 2022, Issue 9 - September
Google Scholar :
https://bit.ly/3IIfn9N
Scribd :
https://bit.ly/3SKgSKl
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7183846
Abstract :
The higher education sector has experienced
turbulence and crises over the years such as
earthquakes, hurricanes and other catastrophes. Higher
learning institutions have responded to these in diverse
ways. The Covid-19 pandemic unlike other forms of
crises which oftentimes were region specific in nature
was a global crisis. The epidemic in addition to being a
global phenomenon came so swiftly and was associated
with protocols that instantly required abandonment of
traditional modes of teaching and learning as it required
social distancing measures to save lives for tertiary
institution workers and students. Most educational
institutions had to resort to remote or virtual learning
modes of teaching and learning. As a result of urgency
with which the pandemic came, there was little room to
reflect on the response strategies or even budget for
follow up interventions. The key impacts from the
pandemic were that there was sudden shift to online
modes of delivery across the globe. This brought about
mental strain among learners and lecturers who had to
shift to predominantly online modes of engagement with
minimal or no prior training on use of online teaching
and learning platforms.
Furthermore, higher learning institutions
experienced reduced incomes especially for institutions
that heavily depended on foreign students as enrolments
shrank due to travel bans that were associated with the
pandemic. The response mechanisms which succeeded
were those closely tied to institutions that already had
online engagement before the pandemic. Major
challenges encountered by learning institutions had to do
with online delivery support infrastructure, learning
platforms, internet access, speed and cost. No universal
survival strategies emerged except for smooth transiting
from face to face interactions to virtual modes of
delivery. Stakeholder engagement was identified as a
critical factor by institutional leaders in coming up with
survival strategies, for mitigating the adverse effects of
the pandemic.
Keywords :
Covid-19, Crises, Response, Strategies.
The higher education sector has experienced
turbulence and crises over the years such as
earthquakes, hurricanes and other catastrophes. Higher
learning institutions have responded to these in diverse
ways. The Covid-19 pandemic unlike other forms of
crises which oftentimes were region specific in nature
was a global crisis. The epidemic in addition to being a
global phenomenon came so swiftly and was associated
with protocols that instantly required abandonment of
traditional modes of teaching and learning as it required
social distancing measures to save lives for tertiary
institution workers and students. Most educational
institutions had to resort to remote or virtual learning
modes of teaching and learning. As a result of urgency
with which the pandemic came, there was little room to
reflect on the response strategies or even budget for
follow up interventions. The key impacts from the
pandemic were that there was sudden shift to online
modes of delivery across the globe. This brought about
mental strain among learners and lecturers who had to
shift to predominantly online modes of engagement with
minimal or no prior training on use of online teaching
and learning platforms.
Furthermore, higher learning institutions
experienced reduced incomes especially for institutions
that heavily depended on foreign students as enrolments
shrank due to travel bans that were associated with the
pandemic. The response mechanisms which succeeded
were those closely tied to institutions that already had
online engagement before the pandemic. Major
challenges encountered by learning institutions had to do
with online delivery support infrastructure, learning
platforms, internet access, speed and cost. No universal
survival strategies emerged except for smooth transiting
from face to face interactions to virtual modes of
delivery. Stakeholder engagement was identified as a
critical factor by institutional leaders in coming up with
survival strategies, for mitigating the adverse effects of
the pandemic.
Keywords :
Covid-19, Crises, Response, Strategies.
