COVID’s Lessons for Global Higher Education - Coping with the Present while Building a More Equitable Future

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Damian

Report on how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped global higher education from March to October 2020, highlighting an increasingly fragile international well-being and an uncertain economic outlook. It catalogs pandemic-driven disruptions across contexts, explains what is working and what is not, and emphasizes inequities faced by racially and socioeconomically minoritized populations. The analysis links shifts to online learning, worsening access barriers, and predicted declines in learning outcomes and employability while noting slowed research activities.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages101

Reading Time4 h 15 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Background

Impact of COVID-19

Mitigation and Transformation Measures

Conclusion

Main Messages and Policy Lessons

Introduction

Objective

Methodology

Outline of the Study

Main Messages

Short-Term Effects and Reactions

Closures and Transition to Online Education

COVID’s Lessons for Global Higher Education Coping with the Present while Building a More Equitable Future By Jamil Salmi November 2020 This report was written over the course of the first six months of the pandemic, roughly from March to October 2020. During and since that time, much has transpired in terms of the pandemic and its implications for the world. As of mid-November 2020, there have been over 58 million cases ofCOVID-19 worldwide, the global death toll is close to 1.5 million, and the virus continues to spread faster than ever before in many countries. The International Monetary Fund recently released its annual report underscoring the “uncertain outlook” and the likelihood of a deep global recession—a prediction backed widely by economists around the world.* Our international well-being has never felt so fragile for most of us alive today. Amid this backdrop, the international perspective—which this report offers—is critical to our understanding of emerging trends, issues, and priorities in higher education. Author Jamil Salmi thoroughly catalogs the global issues in higher education that have been caused—or in some cases just intensified—by the pandemic. He offers insight into what is working and not working in very different contexts across the globe, and summarizes lessons learned for higher education leaders and policymakers at the institutional and national levels. Perhaps, most importantly, this study shines a light on the specific hardships encountered by racially and socioeconomically minoritized populations around the world, deepening systemic inequities in higher education. For instance, the move to online learning and assessment has layered on yet another challenge for students who lack affordable access to reliable internet service and devices. Growing racial inequities in higher education are especially troubling here in the United States where, alongside the pandemic, ongoing racial injustices have led to social uprisingsand unrest, reinforcing the deep systemic racism in the country and the need for reform. The medium-term impacts predicted by Salmi—that “COVID-19 is likely to have negative effects on the learning outcomes, graduation rates, employability and job prospects of traditionally under-represented students and on the economic health of higher education institutions—” seem inevitable. At the same time, the pandemic is slowing or stopping much of the non-COVID-related work of scholars, researchers, and scientists, adding to the lost progress that is likely to be felt for decades to come. Higher education systems around the world—including the many people who work and study within those systems—are undeniably more vulnerable to economic and health-related risksnow, at the end of 2020, than they were at the onset of the pandemic. While the challenges ahead have never been more daunting, the stakes for global higher education are higher than ever. Equipping all people with the learning they need to gain social mobility and good jobs so they can, in turn, contribute their skills and talent to advancing our collective economic, political, and social well-being has never been more critical to worldwide stability and progress. Salmi aptly presents this critical moment as an opportunity to prioritize what has long been on society’s back burner: the difficult work of enacting the long-term systemic changes that must take place if higher education is to help the world reach its true potential. Courtney Brown Vice President for Impact and Planning, Lumina Foundation * [https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/ar/2020/eng/downloads/imf-annual-report-2020.pdf](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/ar/2020/eng/downloads/imf-annual-report-2020.pdf) Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................3 Background ..............................................................................

FAQs

What time period does the report cover?

The report was written during the first six months of the pandemic, roughly from March to October 2020.

Which groups does the study identify as facing the biggest hardships?

It highlights specific hardships for racially and socioeconomically minoritized populations, deepening systemic inequities in higher education.

How does the pandemic affect learning and student prospects according to the report?

It projects negative effects on learning outcomes, graduation rates, employability, and job prospects for traditionally under-represented students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Damian