Abstract:

COVID-19 related lockdown pressures have enabled a reorganization of conventional academic structures in higher education in developing countries like Pakistan. Bureaucratic regulators of higher education were forced to radically reassess their underlying assumptions behind the measures of conventional quality in academic structures such as knowledge structure, time structure, teaching structure, examination structure, and campus structure. This paper presents the revision of quality assumptions of conventional academic structures undertaken by the regulators after the lockdown which forced them to issue new guidelines for online education paradigms that may have otherwise taken at least another decade or two. This had enabled hundreds of universities with millions of students to understand, adopt and implement online education paradigms. This qualitative study is based on an experiential learning of the implementation of the new guidelines issued by regulators in Pakistan. Universities that implemented the guidelines by modifying their assumptions proactively had an easier transition than those that were reactive in their approach and were forced by student protests to change without modifying the underlying assumptions. The paper presents the radical revision of assumptions related to autonomy of universities, decentralization of decision making process, importance of physical infrastructure, flexibility in adjusting the duration and schedule of semesters, grading restrictions, examination processes, physical labs, secrecy of papers, etc. New definitions of readiness of students, readiness of learning systems, readiness of courses and readiness of faculty have emerged.

There is a greater understanding about parameters of educational quality which regulators were reluctant to consider earlier, or not give them enough weightage. Acquisition and adoption of digital learning platforms by universities indicates bridging of the digital divide. Open source LMS resources have provided pedagogical activities similar to those available in developed countries. Basis of competition has moved away from the resource hungry constraints of big universities whose revenue models depended significantly from earnings from dorms, dining halls, gyms, sports stadiums, and campus student facilities.

Keywords:

Experiential learning, academic structures, campus structures, grading structures, teaching structures, time structures, regulations, regulatory bodies.