Building a resilient university: ensuring academic continuity—transition from face-to-face to online in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In recent times, disturbances, such as pandemics, natural disasters, and social unrest have put universities in unstable situations, affecting educational processes. The duration of unstable situations is unpredictable and can be weeks or years. Despite these disruptions, universities have to continue to fulfil their mission to educate young people. This paper discusses the notion of the resilient university with a particular focus on academic continuity. In order to investigate the migration to online learning under the COVID-19 pandemic and examine student and faculty perceptions and lessons learned, a literature study on resilient organizations and academic continuity and a case study of the World Maritime University (WMU) were undertaken. The case study employed two methods: a focus group (qualitative) and online questionnaire (quantitative and qualitative). The results show that in order to ensure academic continuity and build resilience, the university has to develop anticipation, coping, and adaptation capabilities and act on lessons learned. The research findings revealed the capability of a university in coping with the unexpected challenges and a potential to become a resilient university.

Organizational Resilience of Higher Education Institutions: An Empirical Study during Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Prayag et al ( 2018 ) ascertain the importance of organizational resilience, where resilient organizations contribute immensely to resilient communities. With this in mind, Lee et al ( 2013 ) and Bartusevičienė et al ( 2021 ) explain that if organizations are not sufficiently prepared to mitigate impacts and effectively respond to crises, neither will the communal- or supra-systems to which they belong. The literature shows that the majority of those establishments showing preparedness to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 have adopted and deployed an organizational resilience framework (Brown et al 2021 ; Bartusevičienė et al 2021 ; Chen et al 2021 ; Diedrich et al 2021 ).…”

“…With this in mind, Lee et al ( 2013 ) and Bartusevičienė et al ( 2021 ) explain that if organizations are not sufficiently prepared to mitigate impacts and effectively respond to crises, neither will the communal- or supra-systems to which they belong. The literature shows that the majority of those establishments showing preparedness to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 have adopted and deployed an organizational resilience framework (Brown et al 2021 ; Bartusevičienė et al 2021 ; Chen et al 2021 ; Diedrich et al 2021 ). A significant component of this approach emphasizes the incorporation of accumulated knowledge from earlier health crises and other global emergencies (Deloitte 2021 ), business-model innovation (Denyer 2017 ; Diedrich et al 2021 ), prioritizing reliability (Denyer 2017 ; Diedrich et al 2021 ), and so on.…”

“…Resilience as a phenomenon is commonly addressed by academics (i.e., Wildavsky 1991 ; Chen et al 2021 ; SchWeber 2013 ). However, research on organizational resilience in general remains scarce (Bartusevičienė et al 2021 ). The conceptualization of resilience as a complex variable has not yet been achieved (Chen et al 2021 ; Duchek 2014 ), and, in the context of higher education, there is insufficient literature addressing the impact of the abrupt transition to online modes on business continuity and organizational resilience (Bartusevičienė et al 2021 ).…”

Perspective Chapter: Perspectives on the Emergency Remote Assessment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The coping phase, manifested at the outbreak of the pandemic in the form of adopting emergency educational solutions was replaced by the adaptation phase, during which acquisitions from other experiences were called upon (mainly from e-learning and technology-assisted education) and, finally, by the transformational phase, during which universities once again prove themselves to be drivers of innovation. Educational systems aim at building sustainable, resilient universities as part of the development of academic life, "continuously influenced by sociocultural, technological, and environmental changes" [37]. In the process, assessment practices need to evolve towards sustainable models, ensuring that appropriate pedagogical resources are activated, that students understand, accept and extract meaning from the assessment activities, that society acknowledges and recognizes the result and those technological affordances are put to use in the process.…”

Study of Resilience in Learning Environments During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…In Bartusevičienė et al (2021), the student and faculty perceptions about the migration to online learning during Covid-19 were examined. The factors experienced in the transition were resources, support and competencies.…”