IAU publishes new report, ‘Regional & National Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education’

Following the publication of its first Global Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education, the International Association of Universities (IAU) released a new report providing Regional and National Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education.

The IAU’s first Global Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education sought to better understand the disruption caused by COVID-19 across higher education institutions worldwide and to investigate the first measures undertaken by them. It aimed to capture a description of the impact of COVID-19 at the global level and on higher education in the broader sense, including all areas: teaching & learning, research, and community engagement.

In order to complement the report and shed some light on the above-mentioned topics, IAU called its member organizations to contribute to a new report focusing on Regional/ National perspectives by contextualizing the results of the IAU global survey in their local realities and providing additional information.

The report presents success stories at regional and national levels in Asia, Europe, and North America and covers the following topics:

1. European higher education in the COVID-19 crisis
2. Impact of COVID-19 on higher education in India
3. NAFSA response to the IAU global survey
4. Hungarian response to COVID-19
5. ProSPER.Net members respond to COVID-19 crisis
6. COVID-19 is leading to a quick shift to online learning

The final chapter, contributed by U-Multirank is based on initial insights to the pandemic’s effects on higher education worldwide, published on 09. June 2020.

Blurb from U-Multirank chapter: ‘COVID-19 is leading to a quick shift to online learning’

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed millions of learners, teachers, and researchers to new realities, new ways of learning and teaching, examination, communicating and doing research. It is clear that the impact of COVID-19 on higher education has been tremendous, with all institutions and students having been affected. Many universities reacted in a flexible way to the crisis, but both the IAU survey and the most recent U-Multirank data show that not all higher education institutions were prepared for the provision of full online programmes. The IAU global survey on the impact of COVID-19 on higher education around the world reports that about 2/3 of the responding institutions are replacing classroom teaching by distance learning. This outcome is in line with U-Multirank’s data that show that some 60% of the universities worldwide reported online learning provisions in their strategic planning prior to COVID-19.

For the full report published by the IAU, visit https://iau-aiu.net/New-IAU-Report-Regional-National-Perspectives-on-the-Impact-of-COVID-19-on.

What is the International Association of Universities (IAU)?

Founded in 1950, under the auspices of UNESCO, the International Association of Universities (IAU) is the leading global association of higher education institutions and organisations from around the world. IAU brings together its members from more than 120 countries for reflection and action on common priorities. IAU is an independent, non-governmental organisation and an official partner of UNESCO (associate status). It acts as the voice of higher education to UNESCO and other international organisations and provides a global forum for leaders of institutions and associations. Its services are available on the priority basis to members, but also to organisations, institutions and authorities concerned with higher education, as well as to individual policy and decision-makers, specialists, administrators, teachers, researchers and students.