HERG Seminar: The Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education: a review of emerging evidence

This Higher Education Research Group webinar presented the results of the analytical report ‘The impact of COVID-19 on higher education: a review of emerging evidence’, published by the European Commission’s Network of Experts of the Social Dimension of Education and Training. The authors of the report are Thomas Farnell, Ana Skledar Matijević, Ninoslav Šćukanec Schmidt from the Institute for the Development of Education (Croatia).

The analytical report provides a synthesis of the emerging evidence on what impact COVID-19 has on three aspects of higher education in Europe:

teaching and learning;
the social dimension (i.e. the effect on underrepresented, vulnerable and disadvantaged learners);
and student mobility.

Drawing upon 14 surveys carried out by university networks, student organisations and researchers, as well as over 50 journal articles, reports and publications, the report synthesises the emerging evidence and presents recommendations on actions to be taken at the policy level and by higher education institutions themselves.

Thomas Farnell works as a higher education policy expert at the Institute for the Development of Education (IDE). He is a member of the Network of Experts on the Social Dimension of Education and Training (NESET) and is the lead author of the NESET report. He is currently participating in the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education expert team on the impact of COVID-19 on higher education.