ABSTRACT
The impact of the COVID pandemic, and concomitant public health interventions, on university operations and finances is unprecedented in its scope and scale. This chapter provides, firstly, a panorama of the challenges of tertiary teaching and learning in a socially distanced world as well as of the fiscal impact of the pandemic on universities. Secondly, it is an experience-informed personal reflection on the lessons that university instructors, researchers, and leaders can learn from the events of the past year to be more effective in sub-optimal environments, both as individuals and as members of the larger society. Finally, it presents an argument that while the pandemic itself will probably only leave a scar in the long run, the questions that it has asked of universities are existential. In particular, how will the modern, ‘internationalised’ university evolve in response to geopolitical changes and rising parochialism? In general, what is the contemporary social relevance of the university? While this chapter lacks the remit or the capacity to answer these questions, it contends that the universities that will endure will be the ones that are agile and adaptable enough to remap their roles in a volatile world.
