Slovenian Higher Education in a Post-Pandemic World: Trends and Transformations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of work and daily life, with higher education being greatly affected, especially in remote teaching, work, and digital collaboration. Most of these changes are retained in the post-COVID-19 era, e.g., remote work has enabled greater access to educational opportunities and contributed to a more inclusive and diverse workforce. To investigate to what extent these changes impact higher education in the post-pandemic era, we have conducted qualitative research on a sample of 12 professors from Slovenia working in higher education, selected based on their extensive research, professional experience, and significant contributions to the field. The Delphi method was used for this study since its iterative process refines ideas in each round based on feedback from the previous one. Participants were given a five-day window to express their views and share their expertise. The responses to the open-ended questions were examined using qualitative content analysis. Research indicates that pedagogical and organisational characteristics such as the ability to adapt to changes, the capacity for resilience, and the willingness to embrace digital transformation are crucial for preserving long-term changes induced by pandemics.