How top colleges have evolved post-COVID-19 pandemic

Sitting at home was difficult during the lockdown, wasn't it? Covid-19 pandemic was unprecedented and a formidable challenge. It started way back in March 2021, and everything shut down. The pandemic shattered all the economies in the world. The most important and drastic impact was on the education system. Especially in the underdeveloped and developing countries as students weren't able to physically go to schools and colleges. The impact was dramatic and transformative as colleges were not ready for the challenges. The change in higher education or Post-graduation was thrust closer to radical changes by the forceful shutdown of in-person touch.

The world went online, not only in the industry but also in education. The institution was worried and finding ways to prevent them from obstacles to the core mission in this new environment. With the decreasing rate of Covid-19 cases, things went a little bit being sane, except for the education system. They are still facing challenges and obstacles yet trying to keep them running and ahead. Though Covid-19 brought challenges it also has got an opportunity for higher education to evolve more into online education further. This opportunity was utilized by many universities to expand access and strengthen excellence in teaching and learning.

As said earlier, the universities chose to start with online education but it was more to optimize multiple modes with creativity and innovation in teaching and learning. This was achieved by combining teaching methods with learning methods to improve efficient outcomes. This also improved the readiness of graduates for the ever-evolving landscape. The traditional model of developing skills in the classrooms went to the comfort of being at home.

Yet the post-covid-19 and its aftermath of higher education have a different view. The comfort of home is now a practice and is a huge success. The universities have evaluated changes for better operating and will need to Identify the student populations they seek to serve and change the program curriculums to fit the refined mission. The universities have to enable flexibility in ever changing environments. And lastly come up with new plans to align human, financial, physical, and reputational capital to the new education system. Let's see how colleges have evolved and made changes:

• Firstly, reallocation of all forms of capital. The growth came to turtle speed and colleges had to compete on the same set of fundamental terms. The colleges divided capital into 4 parts:
  1. Man capital – The skills, knowledge, and experience of the faculty and staff were put to extreme use for the students and alumni.
  2. Infrastructural capital – The lockdown made college campuses and infrastructure of no use yet was kept active for the administration.
  3. Financial Capital – The colleges had to postpone admissions and the revenue got affected so they chose to liquid and made everything online for their students.
  4. Reputational Capital –The colleges had to mend and bend their mission and vision to meet the need of the hour.
• The pressure on the colleges rose with the growing intensity of the pandemic. They need to have an immediate and effective response. The colleges came up with more efficient ways to embrace their core to develop valuable skills. The post-covid-19 effect made the colleges seize up the momentum that was created to continue evolving quickly and meet the needs of the students, eliminating any risk.
• The colleges had to go through the turmoil of uncertainty and were left with no choice other than to divide departments thoroughly, conducting quarterly reviews of their described programs, and make them more core-focused. The colleges also had to experiment with alternative pathways to settle down on different platforms for learning.
• A few colleges came up with different kinds of scholarships and financial aid for the students who had no access to experience the new online learning.
• Even though the curriculum went online the changes made to the curriculum especially in the autonomous colleges made it more engaging and interesting for the students. The faculty and colleges at large made sure that students have an equal level of opportunities in education as well as the employment sector so they came up with virtual internships.
• It was quite amusing as some colleges came up with competitions to make platforms for their institutes that tested students' skills and knowledge.
• Some of the top colleges developed really interesting ways of student assessments. It was one of the toughest tasks as it was difficult to find a common denominator to evaluate. The grading system is being used relatively less and the new approach of projects and assignments has come into wide use.
• Colleges offered open and distance learning due to the forced covid-19 after effects giving opportunities to the students and colleges to explore themselves.
• The never-ending signs of covid-19 effects have made it essential not only in India but globally to remain in this sustainable education system. A must say is that the government has been more flexible and supportive of the evolving education system.

We've always mapped our paths through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways . The decades pending digitalization of the education system happened only and only because of covid-19.The traditional era of the offline education model won't vanish, they will survive. Nonetheless, a combination of classrooms and an online model will become the norm of the future. The teachers and colleges will work together on the context and content.

It may take weeks, months, or decades for everything to come back to normal but we can live with the new normal now. Human contact is now of more value acknowledging the gift of learning together with gaining knowledge. The privilege was to a few yet the government came up with schemes and had a gradual move towards virtual education and launched online teaching platforms, depositories, e-books platforms, and learning material platforms for the less privileged.

The creativity will require work from faculty and administrators. It is important to keep in mind that the world is always changing. The after-effects of covid-19 have made the colleges more inclusive, diverse, and global. Hopefully and when we return to classrooms, we will be more familiar with the patterns, preserving virtual solutions just in case. Wear your mask and stay safe in the covid-19 and keep developing skills.