Government Responses to the Pandemic and Their Effects on Universities

Abstract

AbstractFor universities and colleges around the world the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption, which has created new challenges and possibilities, as well as amplifying existing trends. This chapter focuses on several dimensions of the pandemic-related disruption that affected universities and their students in many countries and has had widespread impacts on operations and teaching. The chapter examines some dimensions of government policy that widely affected universities: focussing on two main dimensions of those policies that temporarily reduced student movement, and those that involved a direct reduction in investment in public university education. It explores some of what government responses have meant for university operations, and the delivery of their teaching, and implications for the scholarship of teaching and learning. Focussing on the case of Australia as example of government policy responses that did little to address the specific issues universities faced resulting from the pandemic, and instead the government response was guided by ideology and reflected an attachment to using competitive mechanisms and market dynamics. The actions of the Australian government appear extreme compared to many jurisdictions, such as in many countries in Europe and in the United States, yet they align with their recent approach and their adherence to the New Public Management. That the pandemic significantly affected higher education policies is unsurprising, nonetheless examining how this occurred is instructive.