Growing up in 1960s Melbourne, I was given my first real administration position at my primary school as ‘milk monitor’. It came with responsibility for ensuring the milk bottles were brought in from the sun in time for recess each day. The position came complete with a badge of honour, rubber gloves and a face mask – after all, I was opening milk bottles and placing straws down the neck, so hygiene was paramount. (Ironically, in Melbourne today, I have to wear a mask to collect my milk in the morning – but this is an aside.) In those days, milk came in essentially one form – pasteurised, and later homogenised. By the 1980s, a milk revolution took place. The Big M arrived providing flavoured milk, followed closely by a range of milk types. Today, we have a huge range of milk products catering to every possible need. The slogan accompanying the Big M revolution was ‘things will never be the same now the Big M’s here’. And true enough, it has never been the same – arguably for the better. The same could be said of the ‘big C’ – COVID-19. Because higher education will never be the same.

I believe there will be five key impacts over the next, say, five years:

Heightened sense of hygiene
It is self-evident that sanitisation stations, face masks, heightened cleaning regimes etc. are the new norm. Institutions (such as mine) will flock towards COVID-safe certification. Yes, it adds additional cost and red tape. But in truth, better hygiene standards can only be a good thing. Hopefully post-pandemic, we will see less flus and colds on campus – and the associated disruptions – as students and staff remain more conscious of the importance of hygiene and the simple act of washing their hands regularly throughout the day.

Changes to assessment and feedback
The inevitable concern about online examination security will lead to a fundamental rethink of the balance of exams versus assignments. The trend is towards a 60:40 model. My institution, like many, has already adjusted the examination regime we had in place pre-COVID. Further, the importance of feedback to students will be emphasised. Zaglas (2020)[i] recently highlighted the importance of feedback in the digital environment, and educators will need to bridge the tyranny of distance with more proactive feedback to students learning remotely. Generally speaking, teaching staff have been good at this. However, the new digital focus necessitates new feedback strategies.

Changes to ways of working and communicating for administrative staff
The relocation of staff to a work-from-home environment has had both positive and negative outcomes. Less efficient organisations have further suffered; the more nimble and productive ones have actually transitioned well. As Kidd (2020)[ii] argues “COVID-19 has forever changed the way that many people work. Businesses have had to quickly move to models that allow work to be performed remotely and with increased flexibility.” While much has been said of the shift to online for teachers, I think it’s non-teaching roles that will most acutely embrace remote working post-pandemic. We have found a work-from-home roster for professional staff works well and with minimal disruption.

Increased use of technology
Embracement of technology would always have happened regardless of COVID. But it’s the types of technology that have, and will continue to be, embraced by the higher education sector that will fundamentally change. Whether or not full classes return to on-site lecture theatres, there will now be a blended approach to teaching and learning. The flipped classroom gathered some momentum over the last few years – but a truly balanced approach is now inevitable. The current lingo around this is the hybrid classroom – that is, all sessions are available online with limited access to classrooms in a safe and responsible way. Interestingly, students appear to prefer such an approach: a recent survey of our students found that around three in four (72 per cent) would prefer classes to stay online. There is likely a combination of factors driving this, including reduced commuting time and cost, as well as perhaps an alleviation of the fear of asking questions in a full lecture theatre.

Obsession with academic integrity and use of proctoring invigilation software
Regulators will become obsessed (if they are not already) with the issue of academic integrity. This will flow on to administrators and managers. While regulatory challenges have been with us for many years, they are much more heightened in recent times by concerns over digital fraud. As such, expect the market for proctoring tools to expand noticeably, given the plethora of products available.

Change for the better
While we’d all prefer the pandemic never happened, the change it has brought about is irrevocable. And that change is not necessarily a bad thing either. Higher education has needed a shake-up for some time; teaching and learning at universities has long needed a jolt. The current pandemic has challenged the ways administrators and teachers alike go about their work. Post five years, there is an argument that COVID-19 will simply be a thing of the past, not unlike the Spanish Flu, Swine Flu, Hong Kong flu – only time will tell. For the moment, change is inevitable, and we can either embrace it or get left behind.

Emeritus Professor Greg Whateley is currently executive dean at UBSS and an executive director at GCA.
[i] Zaglas, W. (2020) Delivering quality feedback to students and staff with remote learning and skeleton staff. Campus Review, 11 September 2020.

[ii] Kidd, E. (2020) My staff don’t want to return to work – coming back after COVID-19. Human Resources Director, 12 May 2020.