Perceptions of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on academics’ teaching, and research key performance areas (KPAs)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced education systems and institutions to rethink how they operate. A new normal is emerging, where Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are reshaping how they teach, assess and interact. This exploratory research highlights the need for institutions to embrace the tenets of University 4.0 while raising a number of issues related to how academics’ performance is measured, and thus consider if performance management systems are able to adapt in tandem. This paper presents the results of a study that set out to investigate perceptions of academics in a public higher educational institution in South Africa on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their teaching and research key performance areas (KPAs) used in their institution, as these are used to monitor and manage academics. This study adopted a qualitative research approach with purposeful sampling so that a range of views from academics and leadership at this institution were included. The results suggest that where implemented, performance management needs to be realigned to the new approaches to teaching and research adopted by academics since the COVID-19 pandemic.