18 Jun 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on disruptions, vulnerabilities, and challenges in all facets of our lives, and higher education is no exception. In our latest webinar with the HEAD Foundation on 17 June 2020, “E-Learning: The Magic Solution for Higher Education?”, we explored how this pandemic is forcing a rethink of what higher education means, and its relevance in the world today.
The panelists stimulated thinking around:
· Equitable access to higher education for all students and what key action principles higher education institutions (HEIs) can incorporate in their response to this pandemic;
· Sustaining the three pillars of HEIs – how the pandemic forms an opportunity for universities to ratify and upgrade their teaching, research, and public service;
· Enabling non-Western pedagogies and Asian ideologies (such as Confucian principles of mutual care and empathy) in HEI curricula to help students cope better;
· The impact on employability – how HEIs have a crucial role in not just equipping graduates with the relevant knowledge and skills for employment, but also to innovate and sustain themselves as enriching centres of lifelong learning and employability.
We would like to thank Professor Nymia Simbulan (University of the Philippines Manila), Dr Wesley Teter (UNESCO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, Thailand), and Dr Thanh Pham (Monash University) for sharing their viewpoints on the higher education landscape in this pandemic flux.
There are many more valuable insights to be gleaned from each speaker. The full recording of the webinar can be viewed here.
We also encourage you to read the latest special issue of the HEAD Foundation’s flagship publication, HESB – Higher Education in Southeast Asia and Beyond to learn more about how global and local institutions are coping and adapting to COVID-19, and how HEIs might look in a post COVID-19 world.