Universities must adapt to survive in post-pandemic world

These are hard times for higher education — especially for the decades-long drive for its internationalization. At a stroke and without warning, campuses around the globe have been emptied and, in the justified fear of mass coronavirus infection, teaching and learning has migrated to virtual platforms, with some phenomenal success. This can be partly attributed to the fact that, for more than a decade, many universities have been using distance learning either to supplement more traditional in-class teaching methods or as the main method of delivery. The versatility and agility of so many universities and colleges, combined with a generation of students for whom using advanced technology is second nature, is enabling the academic year to be successfully completed. But is this where the future of higher education lies?

This forced hiatus in normal university life — and concerns over what the future holds for higher education in the aftermath of the pandemic — should encourage all those involved in academia to reflect on the paradox that, despite universities’ impressive record in terms of scientific advancements, knowledge creation and dissemination, being pedagogically innovative and creative, and being a force for bringing together diverse people and communities, there is a constant questioning of their contribution to society, on what and how they teach, not to mention how they are financed.

After all, in recent decades, millions of students across the world have become the first in their families to graduate. And the growing trend of studying abroad has ushered in a genuine era of global knowledge crossfertilization and nurtured a generation that is not only comfortable with cultural diversity, but also cherishes lifelong learning in diverse environments. If that is the case, one wonders why this area of human activity — without which societies are poorer in every sense of the word — is in a constant state of flux, struggling to retain its financial viability while its contribution to society is put under microscopic scrutiny.

Higher education’s problems didn’t begin with the current coronavirus crisis and they won’t disappear with the defeat of this paralyzing pandemic. Nevertheless, there is a genuine opportunity to make it fit for purpose in the 21st century in terms of course offerings, methods of delivery and assessment, the skillset that university leavers are equipped with, and, no less important, how college and universities’ long-term sustainability can be ensured.

It is for universities, especially since their transformation from elite institutions to ones that cater for a much wider population (not to be equated with compromising the quality of education), to demonstrate their value in terms of future employment prospects, personal fulfillment, social mobility and overall contribution to the quality of society. To do so, academia needs to undergo not only a necessary transformation in methods of delivery and assessment, but also and more importantly a conceptual and intellectual transformation, in which it is recognized that the perception of universities as a homogeneous system of education is anachronistic, and this includes the rankings system.

That view belongs to a time when universities were more about creating new knowledge than disseminating it; an era when pure research was considered superior to practical scholarly work; and when teaching, or even engagement with the wider public, was bottom on the list of academia’s priorities. To survive, it must abandon this approach — without compromising on the depth and breadth of research, something that the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated can literally be a matter of life and death.

For many universities, the forced switch to teaching online had already become not only part of their pedagogical philosophy, but a survival strategy to attract new students and retain current ones. Cambridge University, for instance, has already announced that all lectures in the next academic year will be conducted virtually, supplemented by the more traditional tutorial system. This revival of the tutorial should be welcomed as a move away from the mass lecture, which is increasingly losing its value, if it ever had one.

In a world where the best service universities can provide their students is to equip them with learning, analytical, leadership and entrepreneurial skills — and, most importantly, those of critical reading and thinking — big classes have very limited utility. It might feel counterintuitive, but the more universities open their gates to students of diverse backgrounds and in increasing numbers, the more they will need to tailor their approach to ensure that graduates will have been equipped to succeed in a world that is ever changing, and rapidly so.