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Although its impacts on higher education functions are yet to be studied across regional, national, and institutional contexts, it is generally observed that COVID-19 disrupts teaching and learning, research and travels, and university community service worldwide. To improve our understanding of the strategies higher education institutions (HEI) can use for staying relevant and competitive in times of crisis and beyond, this essay reflects on current developments in HEI in Africa as linked to COVID-19. It subsequently highlights how African HEI respond to the pandemic, the prospect of online instruction, and the conditions that support the successful integration of technologies in teaching and learning. There is ample evidence that supports that African universities are more likely to significantly embrace digital technologies in the future than ever before. To inform successful technology integration, a generic conceptual model that explains success indicators and success factors in technology-supported learning environments in higher education is presented.

The significant contribution and relevance of Comparative and International education (CIe) mainly depends on how closely it studies the interplay between society and education, considering what is dubbed as the global and the local. Many CIe studies including critical reviews seems to dwell on the topic, purpose, conceptual, and methodological aspects of the field, magnifying what appears to be the global. our understanding of the role particular sociocultural, economic, and political contexts play in education seems inconclusive. Using appropriate analytical frameworks that delineate society-education dynamics, this study further problematizes the comparative and international elements of CIe area studies, with a focus on context analysis. The critical review considers area studies published over the last seven years in leading CIe journals and answers this question: How and to what extent do CIe area studies operationalize context analysis? The aim is not so much to bring consensus but to further highlight tensions and issues in conducting context-sensitive comparative and international

COVID-19 has “taught” universities worldwide that using digital technologies to support purely online or blended learning is a survival strategy. This lesson plus the inclusion of technology in continental, national, and university policies and strategic plans implicate significant technology integration, especially blended learning, in higher education in the post-pandemic era. However, there lacks sound theoretical frameworks to adequately explain success indicators and success factors in blended learning. Existing frameworks provided particulars about the impacts of blended learning within certain contexts; none provided a comprehensive analysis of the significant factors that transcend specific application contexts. Moreover, the frameworks did not offer clear conceptions of knowledge, teaching, learning, and technology and its role in learning. To better inform successful blended learning adoption, this study problematizes success indicators and success factors based on a configurative review of existing frameworks and emerging theoretical perspectives in higher education. A holistic conceptual framework that transcends context specificity is proposed to better inform policy making, instructional design, and teaching and learning. Conceptions of adaptive policy, policy as learning design, and policy as practice are found relevant for blended learning policy making and analysis in higher education.

Due mainly to globalization, knowledge economies, liberalization, and regulation and accountability regimes, higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their relevance and significance to society. European and North American universities have rearticulated their profiles and adopted entrepreneurial and engaged mandates. The extent to which and how African universities are strategically repositioning themselves in that respect remains obscure. Using relevant theoretical frameworks, this study explores emerging modalities of university-society engagements and linkages in Africa through a critical analysis of the current strategic plans of 30 universities from 14 countries. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the strategic plans reveal that universities have explicitly identified strategies for the production and transfer of knowledge; for creating networks and partnerships; and for engaging varied stakeholders in decision making at various levels. Implications for further research are identified.