Editorial: The cross-cultural effects of COVID-19 on higher education learning and teaching practice

Abstract

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that began in the late part of 2019 in Wuhan, China has created significant challenges for higher education. Since the inception of COVID-19 research and practice in the higher education discipline, there has continued to be a focus on exploring its effects in localised contexts. The place-based context, while useful in enhancing individual practice, limits the potential to examine the pandemic from a broader lens. There are for many of us, shared examples of good practice that can serve to collectively improve the higher education sector during and beyond the pandemic. This Special Issue came about as an effort to reinvigorate collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries in a discipline environment characterised by exponential growth in local case studies. This Editorial explores the role that we can play in supporting collaboration among researchers as both a process and end-product to support innovation in the university learning and teaching domain. We believe this Special Issue provides a curated cornerstone for the future of COVID-19 in higher education research. This work, contributed from each corner of the globe seeks to understand not just what is occurring now, but what might occur in the future. We find inspiration in the manuscripts within this Special Issue as they provide innovative responses to the pandemic and opportunities for us to collectively grow to better support academics, students, employers, and communities. We hope you find benefit in progressing through this knowledge dissemination project.