Higher Education’s Leadership Soft Skills Reflected in Covid-19 Responses

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Educational Leadership, College of Education, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic and its negative consequences have become the world’s most unpredictable health crisis, thereby causing the global higher education community significant challenges. Because leaders of higher education institutions have responded to the Covid-19 crisis in various ways, this study’s purpose was to gather information on methods and strategies of institutional leadership and management. The study uses desk and meta-analysis, researching specifically through a review of previous research and then deriving conclusions and recommendations. The two research questions are (1) how are universities responding to the pandemic? and (2) How has the pandemic impacted university leadership? Through skilled leadership, instructors and students have mostly shifted to online distance learning. Conclusions focus on that higher education leaders should prioritize safeguarding of learners’ rights and promote economic growth, sustainable development, and long-lasting peace. Therefore, leading decision-makers should heed the several recommendations in regard to, guarantee the safety of all, ensure inclusive reopening, involve all stakeholders, remove connectivity limitations, uphold the teaching profession and teachers’ preparedness, management Styles.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

 
Al-Hunaiyyan, A., Alhajri, R., & Bimba, A. (2021). Towards an Efficient Integrated Distance and Blended Learning Model: How to Minimise the Impact of COVID-19 on Education. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 15(10), 173–193. https://doi-org.sdl.idm.oclc.org/10.3991/ijim.v15i10.21331
Asamoah-Boateng, C. (2020). Ghana Association of University (GAUA) @40: A historical perspective. GAUA Newsletter, 2(1), 6–7.
Berjaoui. R. R., & Karami-Akkary, R. (2019). Distributed leadership as a path to organizational commitment: The case of a Lebanese school. Leadership and Policy in Schools. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2019
Brammer, S., & Clark, T. (2020). COVID-19 and management education: Reflection on challenges opportunities, and potential futures. British Journal of management, 31(3), 453.
Casanova, D., & Price, L. (2018). Moving towards sustainable policy and practice-a five level framework for online learning sustainability Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology/La revue Canadienne del apprentissage et de la technologie, 44(3).
Crawford, J., Butler-Henderson, K., Rudolph, J., Malkawi, B., Glowatz, M., Burton, R., … & Lam, S. (2020). Covid-19: 20 countries’ higher education intra-period digital pedagogy responses. Journal of applied Learning & Teaching, 3(1), 1–20.
Das, R. (2021). The Attitude of Students and Teachers Towards Blended Learning at the Elementary Level. Ilkogretim Online, 20(5), 245–257. https://doi-org.sdl.idm.oclc.org/10.17051/ilkonline.2021.05.23
Dopson, S., Wilson, S., Ferlie, E., McGivem, G., Fischer, M. D., Ledger, J., & Behrens, S. (2016). The impact of leadership and leadership development in higher education. A review of the literature and evidence (Research and Development Series). Education administrators. Georgia Journal of College Student Affair, 75C1). 63–8N MITED
Fernandez, A. A., & Shaw, G. P. (2020). Academic leadership in a time of crisis: The coronavirus and COVID-19. Journal of Leadership Studies, 14(1), 39–45.
Gonzalez, T., de la Rubia, M, A., Hinez, K. B, Comas-Lopez, M., Subirats, L., Fort, S., & Sacha, G. M. (2020). Influence of COVID-19 confinement on students’ performance in higher education. PloS One, 15(10), e02394920
IAU, (2020). The impact of Covid-19 on higher education worldwide. Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, VI(D). 303–309.
Jahagirdar, S. Chatterjee, A Bchera, S., & Mohapatra, A. (2020). Response to the COVID-19 pandemic in India: Case studies on leadership in crisis situations. International Journal Health & Allied Sciences, 9(5).81–84.
Koehn, N. (2020). Real Leaders Are Forged in a Crisis. Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2020/04/real-lcaders-are-forged-in-crisis
Lalli, G., Defeyter, G., Shinwell, J., von Hippel, P., Henderson, E., Brownlee, I., … & Daly-Smith, A. (2020). Back to school post COVID-19: Rebuilding a better future for all children.
Leung, C, C., Lam, T. H., & Cheng, K, K. (2020). Mass masking in the Covid-19 epidemic: people need guidance. Lancet, 395(10228), 945.
Longhurts, G. J., Stone, D. M., Dulohery, K., Scully, D., Cambell, T., & Smith, C. F. (2020). Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis of the adaptations to anatomical education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Anatomical Sciences Education, 13(3), 301–311.
Mackert. M., Table, B., Yang. J., Bouchacourt. L. Woods. J. M. Bermhardt, J, M., & Wagner, J. H. (2020). Applying best practices from health communication to support a university’s response to COVID-19. Health Communication, 1-4.
Martin, F. Polly, D., Jokiaho, A., & May, B. (2017) Global standards for enhancing quality online learning. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 18(2) 1–102
Mascolo, M. (2020). Transforming higher education: Responding to the Coronavirus and other looming crises. Pedagogy and the Human Sciences, 7(1), 2.
Meerow, S., & Woodruff, S. C (2020). Seven Principles of Strong Change Planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 86(1), 39–46.
Osmon-Johnson. P. Camphel. C., & Pollock, k. (2020) Moving Forward in the COVID-19 Era: Reflections for Canadian education. Education Canada Network. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/moving-forward-in-the-covid-19-era.
Park, H., & Shea, P. (2020). A Review of Ten-Year Research through Co-Citation Analysis: Online Learning, Distance Learning, and Blended Learning. Online Learning, 24(2), 225-244.
Quezada. R. L., Talbot, C., & Quezada-Parker. K. B. (2020) From bricks and mortar to remote teaching a teacher education programme’s response to COVID-19, Journal of Education for Teaching, 1-12.
Ratten, V. (2020). Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the entrepreneurship education community. Journal of Enterprising Communities People and Places, in the Global Economy. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEC-06-2020-0121
Roache, D., Rowe Holder, D., & Muschette, R. (2020) Transitioning to online distance learning in the COVID-19 era: A Call for Skilled Leadership in Higher Education Institutions (HEIS). CCEAM, 103.
Tolman, S., & Calhoun. D. W. (2019). Pedagogical approach to developing the hiring practices of higher education administrators, Georgia Journal of College Student Affairs, 35(1), 63–83.
UNESCO (2020). Education: From disruption to recovery. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/covid19/
Wang. C., Yang, J., Cheng, Z., & Ni. C, 2019. Postgraduate Education of Board Members and R&D Investment Evidence from China. Sustainability, 11(22)6524.
Warrick. D. D. (2011). The urgent need for skilled transformational leaders: Integrating transformational leadership and organization development. Journal of leadership, Accountability, and Ethics, 8(5), 11–26.
Watts, L., (2016). Synchronous and asynchronous communication in distance learning: A review of the literature. Quarterly Review of distance Education, 17(1), 23–32.
Yen, S. C., Lo, Y. Lee, A., & Enriquez, J. (2018). Learning online, offline, and in-between: comparing student academic outcomes and course satisfaction in face-to-face, online, and blended teaching modalities. Education and Information Technologies, 23(5). 2141–2153.
Yukl, G., & Mahsud, R. (2010). Why flexible and adaptive is essential. Consulting Psychology Journal Practice and Research, 62(2). 81–93.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics