Influence of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Development of Higher Education: Expert Opinion

Abstract

The article examines the opinion of international experts on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the transformation of the higher education sector. Analyzed the data presented in publications that were posted on the international news resource University World News from 1st of March to 15th of October 2020 in the "coronavirus crises" section. It is noted that the most discussed topic is the strategy for the future development of higher education (26% of the analyzed texts were devoted to strategic issues). Attention is focused on the fact that the pandemic revealed that the concept of direct learning is not adapted to crisis situations like the COVID-19 pandemic (despite its undoubted advantages) when teachers and students do not have the opportunity to communicate directly in the classroom. It is emphasized that, despite the variability of experts' opinions on the future for the development of higher education in a global context there are significantly fewer negative assessments than could be expected: 33% of experts positively assess the changes in higher education initiated by the pandemic, suggest considering the pandemic crisis as a catalyst that accelerates solving existing problems, in particular the need to form a new vision of the strategic development of the education sector taking into account the future advantages of distance and online forms of education. The topic of financing turned out to be the most painful. Most experts negatively assess the prospects associated with a significant decrease in public funding without which it is difficult for universities to survive not only in the crisis conditions of the pandemic but also in the post-covid future. Insufficient funding has led to the reduction amount of  teachers which will subsequently harm the entire system of higher education because it is the teachers who must fill the courses built in the format of augmented learning with content, develop an appropriate pedagogical design and accompany students in the educational process.