Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

The COVID-19 experience is changing the educational experience of over 200 million students in higher education at the more than 20,000 higher education institutions in the world. In light of COVID-19, universities in South Africa took various actions in order to secure the well-being of their students and staff, as well as members of their communities and save the academic programme. This pandemic represents an unprecedented occasion for higher education to evaluate the technical preparedness for new changes, galvanizing us into reflection and action, for instance, regarding how we can tap into the digital technologies and other creative ways to better serve the needs of higher education and address latent disruptors like Covid-19. Whilst inequalities existed on campuses before the pandemic, these manifested in different forms from gender to race/ethnicity, to socioeconomic status, to access to technology and internet speed. Many tertiary institutions and systems are working to develop and implement policies and programs to advance equity, access, diversity and inclusion on their campuses. Yet, the COVID-19 experiences are bringing to light that the gaps in equity, access, diversity and inclusion may be greater than we had realized. The objective of this paper was based on courses of action that academic institutions are implementing in South Africa. While it is understood that the reality of each institution is unique, the aim is to highlight issues equity, access, diversity and inclusion, governance and management during these times as we all continue to learn while the COVID-19 situation unfolds.