Chapter 3 Transformation of Universities during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Digitalization, New Formats, “Re-education of Educators”
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the lives of people around the world. Influencing each person, the coronavirus has violated all socio-economic relations, breaking seemingly stable life models. The most sustainable social institution in times of any change is the education system which needs to be capable of successfully facing any social transformations.
This chapter will offer insights that may be helpful for rethinking the place of the university in a civic society during the pandemic. The expansion of university teachers’ functions in the formative ideology “New normal” from the point of view of human-oriented priorities of higher education is justified and explained. The importance of university teachers in the implementation of the “third mission of the university” (social participation, intergenerational component, health conservation, cultural diversity, etc.) is revealed. Since the success of the university in the new operational format depends to a great extent on the qualification of teachers, universities hastily and without sparing resources organized teachers’ retraining programs; in fact, a total system of “re-education of educators” has unfolded.
Interpreting the results of surveys of university teachers and students in Russia in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors point out the relevance of digital formats, software products and the implementation of learning technologies in the university setting. Moreover, a network of intermediate forms of virtual involvement of “clients” in university education has arisen: webinars for the public and the local community, consultations with firms and public organizations, etc.
In the opinion of the authors, COVID-19, having served as a catalyst for many transformations in higher education, made it possible to solve overdue problems and strengthen the role of universities in the development of the world order of regions and countries where the university acts as a stronghold of society, offering the highest good – education and the humanities.