Rethinking Higher Education Post COVID-19

Higher education’s economic footprint is significant (fourth largest export sector in the US, third largest in Australia). Accordingly, this chapter will address the higher education sector—particularly how COVID-19 has impacted and will continue to impact the future of higher education. It will begin by briefly discussing higher education as a service, before reviewing recent managerial literature on COVID-19’s impact on higher education. The focus and indeed bulk of the chapter will then shift to considering the myriad possible post-pandemic effects on the higher education sector in the eastern hemisphere. Email interviews are conducted with twenty senior academic leaders (including seven Vice Chancellors) in Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Two broad themes emerge, encompassing actual and anticipated changes to the delivery of education; and to the management of universities—with three sub-themes under each. Findings are then discussed and conclusions drawn.