COVID-19 challenges for student affairs and services globally
COVID-19 challenges for student affairs and services globally
COVID-19 challenges for student affairs and services globally
By Birgit Schreiber and Roger B Ludeman
September 12, 2020
Summary
The global pandemic is a time for student affairs and services to shape and offer solutions to challenges, and give direction and support to imagine the post-COVID-19 world as one world, where risks and resources are shared to combat hazards and advance social justice so that we are all equitably equipped to face the next crisis.
The new book, Student Affairs and Services in Higher Education: Global foundations, issues, and best practices, Third Edition includes a Special Supplement on "Life in the Time of COVID-19".
Sixteen student affairs and services practitioners and scholars, coming from all regions of the world, provide perspectives on the pandemic as it relates to student affairs and services in their context.
Student affairs and services, students, institutions, living and learning communities and higher education stakeholders are compelled to innovate and collaborate more effectively, especially across borders and regions, to mitigate the impact of this crisis on education, society, culture, attitudes and practices.
Practitioners and scholars of student affairs and services, or SAS, have been challenged to respond to the crisis in ways that innovate and invent new avenues, to continue to preserve efforts to meet student needs, to enhance student learning and development, and to advance social justice for all.
They are concerned about maintaining services if not with facemasks then remotely, and are concerned about student visas, accommodation and health care.
Apart from these more obvious challenges around student wellness and teaching and learning continuity, we are aware of risks that student affairs and services is focusing mainly on crisis responses, essentialising SAS to a narrow range of response services which aim to provide a service to the pragmatic aspects around learning.
These are the real challenges for SAS - how do we advance these graduate attributes and competencies when online learning of modularised learning units becomes the norm? How do we utilise the COVID-19 crisis as a student, staff and institutional learning experience?
Birgit Schreiber is senior associate editor of the IASAS-DSW book Student Affairs and Services in Higher Education: Global foundations, issues, and best practices, Third Edition.
She is editor of the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, vice president of the International Association of Student Affairs and Services, IASAS, and a member of the Africa Centre for Transregional Research at Freiburg University in Germany.
Reference
Schreiber, B., & Ludeman, R. B. (2020, September 12). COVID-19 challenges for student affairs and services globally. Retrieved September 15, 2020, from https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200911105653974