This qualitative case study set out to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the educational practice of academics, using this moment as a new perspective to illuminate broader, enduring issues such as how will approaches to university education that have emerged in response to the pandemic lead to lasting changes? What is the likely impact of these changes on the dominant forms of university education that we will see in the future? Findings reveal a transition from panicgogy to the pedagogy of compassion. There appeared to be a shift to an interest in human suffering and social justice. An ethic of care and pedagogy of compassion seemed to foreground the practice of many academics, which moved education beyond the curriculum and educational strategies to cultivate social capital and equal life chances for all. These insights hold valuable implications for changes in the dominant forms of university education in the future.