ABSTRACT
Located within the qualitative research tradition, the study worked with Bhaskar’s critical realist perspectives to critically explore the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on higher education with the ultimate purpose to rethink new directions for quality assurance of African higher education post the pandemic. The findings revealed quality assurance systems that are not only heavily biased towards the contact mode of delivery in higher education, but were not fit for purpose, lacked relevance and were not responsive to the needs of a higher education affected by COVID-19 circumstances. Couched predominately from a face-to-face orientation, quality assurance systems lacked specifications in terms of standards and indicators for online learning and teaching and quality assurance. The study argues for a rethinking and recasting of the current quality assurance systems into ones that are highly versatile, resilient and flexible enough to remain fit for purpose under any changing pandemic circumstances. To achieve this, the study advocates for a review and transformation of the current legislative instruments governing quality assurance in a manner that will include clear specifications of standards and indicators for quality assurance of online learning, teaching and assessment, in addition to the traditional face-to-face orientation.
