This work explores the impact of crises, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic, on strategic planning processes in higher education institutions (HEIs). It investigates how crises affect strategic planning, implementation, and achievement of performance metrics outlined in institutional strategic plans. The study employs mixed-methods research to…

Many organizations across the United States were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including institutions of higher education. Campus leaders needed to make decisions about closing campuses, increasing financial constraints, shifts in research, and changing class modalities. Past research shows that one preferred method for making…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, university instructors were required to shift their course delivery from face-to-face to online-only presentations with two weeks of preparation. Volunteering instructors were interviewed via a semi-structured interview protocol regarding their actions to maintain instructor presence in an online-only setting. The…

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first aim was to better understand the selection criteria that college students of varying demographic backgrounds find most important when making a final selection of a college or university during their college search process and the promotional information they find to be most useful, particularly…

Prior studies have documented the pattern of decreased state funding for higher education in periods of economic contraction (i.e., the balance wheel phenomenon). This qualitative case study examines how policymakers in California and Texas made decisions about funding higher education at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when policymakers faced…

This qualitative study addressed the following research question: How did crisis managers at one IHE make decisions in the recovery process during a pandemic crisis? The case under study was a four-year private college located in a midwestern state. Participants in this study included four senior administration officials. I interviewed…

This qualitative study explored whether higher education leaders applied an ethic of care or ethic of justice when making decisions that impacted student wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the ethic of care, more aligned with a focus on student wellbeing, was more dominant, given student wellbeing was at risk during the pandemic.…

The interest in metaverse technology has risen notably in higher education learning contexts. Due to the global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, higher education institutions are now increasingly emphasising online interactive learning. Higher education institutions are currently investigating the potential of metaverse technology to enhance…

Leadership engrosses multiple actors and unique contexts that unfold along different timescales. The purpose of this study is to review the literature on authentic leadership, principal leadership, and distributed leadership and examine the current trends due to the pandemic and the growth of information and communication technology in higher…

Burnout is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves depersonalization and a sense of reduced accomplishment, stemming from chronic workplace stress (Maslach 2003). Some higher education professionals experience stressful workplace conditions such as extended business hours and increased responsibilities despite declining…

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has threatened the capability of academic institutions to continuously deliver quality education despite the worldwide lockdown implemented to curb the transmission of the dreaded disease. As a result, institutions are forced to take advantage of supplementary digital technology to support online…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore institutional crisis leadership during a global pandemic in the athletic departments of five mid-major universities located in the Midwest United States, including Blue University, Red University, Green University, Orange University, and Purple University. This study examined the leadership…

The great lockdown of 2020 presented educational organizations around the world with unprecedented challenges, not least to leadership. For the research reported on here, thirteen leaders of schools, colleges and universities were interviewed about how they coped with the situation. It was found that, while the participants were undoubtedly…

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges that present obstacles to equitable learning and development in higher education in various parts of the world. African higher education and Student Affairs and Services (SAS) are faced with a set of challenges that are in part related to the resources within the institutions and in part due the…

It is widely documented that higher education institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated not only the adoption of educational technologies, but also associated socio-technical controversies. Critically, while these cloud-based platforms are capturing huge datasets, and generating new kinds of learning analytics, there are few…