Abstract:
The rapid disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in multiple sectors
and areas of daily life provide a unique opportunity to study the university’s
capacity to respond to changes in the external environment, to be a learning organization,
in service of addressing significant social challenges. In this book we study
universities’ responses to one such challenge: the disruption to educational opportunities
caused by the interruption of schooling brought about by the pandemic.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, universities innovated on several fronts.
Unsurprisingly, some of those innovations focused on internal actions implemented
to mitigate the impact of the pandemic by transitioning to online teaching delivery
or extension of semester break, etc. (Crawford J et al. J Appl Learning Teaching
3.1:1–20, 2020; Leon-Garcia F, Cherbowski-Lask A, Leadership responses to
COVID 19: a global survey of college and university leadership. International
Association of Universities – Santander Universities. IAUP. https://www.iaup.org/
wp-content/
uploads/2020/11/IAUP-Santander_
Survey_to_COVID-19_
Report2020.pdf, 2020). Beyond the solutions to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on
their communities of students, faculty, or staff, universities also innovated to mitigate
such impact on the larger community. While the contributions of universities to
alleviate the pandemic’s impact have been most visible in public health (Daniels,
R. J. 2020. Universities’ Vital Role in the Pandemic Response. Hopkins Bloomberg
Public Health Magazine. https://magazine.jhsph.edu/2020/universities-vital-
role-
pandemic-
response),
they have extended to other areas of relief and support as well.
Almost half of universities participating in a global survey conducted by the
International Association of Universities indicated that due to the pandemic, their
community engagement had increased (Marinoni G et al. The impact of Covid-19
on higher education around the world. IAU global survey report. International
