Post-COVID-19: Renegotiating the Scope, Role, and Function of Support and Development for Students in Higher Education Across the Globe

Abstract

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has shed a glaring light on the range of obstacles to equitable learning and development in higher education across the globe. Higher education and Student Affairs and Services (SAS), as part of higher education, are faced with a set of challenges that are in part related to the characteristics of their student bodies, the resourcing of the institutions, and also the sociocultural and political contexts in which the institutions and the students are embedded. In this study, four researchers from different parts of the world explore how SAS has responded to the changes in student and institutional needs and responses due to COVID-19. To this end, we surveyed 781 SAS professionals from across the globe. Overall, the data show SAS changed its critical role in mediating the various challenges related to COVID-19 within and beyond the higher education institutions that impact student success.In the course of the analysis of our data, there emerged four domains that impact student success in the context of the pandemic. They include (1) the students’ personal situation; (2) the sociocultural context and familial milieu in which the student is embedded; (3) the institutional and academic domain; and (4) the broader, macro-public domain, which includes larger structural and political-economic conditions. Based on the data, we developed a heuristic model that aids in understanding SAS’ engagement with students’ ability to learn and develop in higher education under the unique conditions presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The data show that the four domains have varying significance in different world regions and national systems of higher education, depending on political, economic, and sociocultural contexts. Additionally, while SAS and universities do a great deal to support students in their learning, factors in the macro-public domain and factors in the sociocultural community and familial milieu are mitigated by SAS to promote a context that is conducive to learning across the globe.Finally, the study demonstrated that COVID-19 has changed not only the scope of SAS but also its role in lobbying and advocating for living and learning contexts that are more conducive to student success. This is an expanding role and function of SAS and appears to emerge as a critical factor for SAS to become more impactful in supporting conditions for student success. The chapter concludes with recommendations to further develop this heuristic model to contribute to the development of a global SAS profession that plays a significant role in advancing higher education practices that promote equitable success for all students.