Why community engagement must increase after COVID-19

After over a year of the devastating impact of the pandemic around the world, there have been some commonalities and differences across the higher education arena. On the one hand, the continuity of educational programmes has been a challenge regardless of context, while on the other hand, the measures that institutions have put in place have depended on context and the readiness and openness of institutions.

Between that initial moment and now, universities have been facing what Henry Stoever, president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, points to as stages of reaction and response: emergency, transition and transformation.

From a pragmatic standpoint, ‘emergency’ refers to the time when all colleges and universities had to quickly move from the traditional face-to-face model to protect against COVID-19 and set up alternative modes of delivery to provide continuity of classes.

‘Transition’ aligns with the period during which higher education institutions were delivering education through alternative models, finding ways of enriching the virtual educational experience for students, while the roll-out of vaccination strategies began to be implemented.

‘Transformation’ pertains to what we might label the post-pandemic period, when universities, having learned from the effects of the pandemic, have reviewed potential opportunities for improvement and are returning gradually back to their campuses with an enhanced approach to delivering education to students.

The Americas

In the United States and many developed economies, higher education institutions mainly followed a decentralised and almost optional approach to how they could engage with students despite the pandemic and with what.

Some universities decided to continue offering face-to-face classes with precautionary measures for as long as COVID-19 did not significantly manifest itself and spread across the campus environment.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, other universities opted to close their campuses and move entirely to remote education delivery.

And yet others were more creative and implemented mixed mode delivery models, referred to by many as hybrid or hyflex models.

By and large, most universities in Latin America, and Mexico in particular, followed what the respective ministry of health, ministry of education or both indicated or mandated. Accordingly, whether universities were prepared or not, they had to shift and adapt so that students, faculty and staff were off campus and somehow regrouped so that some form of remote education was put into place.

In Mexico, institutions that had some experience with the use of technology were able to pivot very quickly, such as Tecnológico de Monterrey which implemented the HyFlex + Tec model, or CETYS University which set in motion CETYS Flex 360°, intended to support learning in a face-to-face, hybrid and-or online mode as required.

Moving from an ‘emergency’ stage to the ‘transition’ stage has entailed numerous actions on the part of universities, initially involving the enhancement of the technological infrastructure (equipment, bandwidth and learning management systems) and faculty training as well as addressing the overall academic, mental health, student development and financial well-being of students.

These included expanding financial aid programmes, setting up special hardship funds for students and families and freezing tuition rates.

Although more often than not institutions did not have existing initiatives or a track record of providing supporting services through virtual formats, many were able to put together web-based athletic, cultural, artistic and socio-emotional activities that intended to bridge the gap between what was before the pandemic and what could be achieved during the pandemic.

At the same time, students assimilated and adjusted to the need to organise and engage in virtual-based formative activities, such as student-led seminars, forums and symposia in business, engineering and leadership.

Community activity

Once universities had addressed the immediate need to provide continuity of their academic programmes for students, they launched numerous efforts aimed at trying to support and benefit their local communities.

In the case of Mexico, as reported by the undersecretary for higher education, Dr Luciano Concheiro Bórquez, there have been numerous examples of institutions going beyond their campuses to get involved with and benefit their broader community, often relating to support provided to health authorities and the general population.

Some actions include providing psychological, medical and legal virtual support to the general population; supporting training programmes set up by health authorities for medical personnel, paramedic and support staff specifically related to COVID-19; piloting the development of prototypes for masks, personal protective equipment, antimicrobial gel, etc.

More recently, numerous institutions with nursing and-or medical programmes took part in a government campaign focused on vaccinating teachers from K-12 as well as university professors, an initiative which successfully vaccinated more than 87% of this population segment.

In addition to the above, there have also been efforts by universities to link up with business, industry and the social economy.

In the case of CETYS University, some examples of the above include a seminar series on the development and promotion of socially focused business, sessions with distinguished business leaders on economic recovery strategies, virtual lectures open to the community focusing on small business and resilience and strategies for economic reactivation of the metal mechanics industry cluster, among others.

Towards transformation

The pandemic has brought to light and in some cases highlighted what universities were conscious about but not doing enough of, or where they have been too slow to respond.

More relevant and timely knowledge, skills, modular and stackable courses leading to degrees, the use of technology, hybrid, online and alternative delivery models and our connections and links not only to the economy but also to society and the greater good are all on the agenda as universities begin to prepare to go beyond the ‘transition’ stage and into the post-pandemic and ‘transformation’ stage.

In the end, we will all need to have learned from and be able to embed into our future actions what has been visible throughout 2020 and 2021: empathy, solidarity, flexibility and opportunity. With these, along with the institutional mission, front and centre, universities will be able to be more relevant, responsive and better prepared to serve our respective societies beyond this and any other pandemic.

Fernando León-García is president of CETYS University in Mexico, president-elect of the International Association of University Presidents, chair of the Commission on International and Global Engagement of the American Council on Education, president of the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration and chair of the Standards and Accreditation Committee of the Mexican Federation of Private Universities.