Higher Education in the COVID-19 Era: Challenges and Opportunities of Using of Distance Education

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a major health crisis and quarantined half of the planetary population, and as a result, it has caused a momentary rupture or even, in the invisibility of the magnitude of this virus total suspension of higher education. It is in this perspective that the treatment of a subject related to this Pandemic is, for us, very important, and especially to study its impact on higher education. Moreover, especially that there is little or no research that has addressed this issue in the case of Tunisia. The objective of this contribution is to report on research that we conducted at the Higher Institute of Technology Studies of Kairouan in Tunisia (HITS of Kairouan), with the aim of studying the experience feedback from the practice of Distance Education, through the Virtual University of Tunis (UVT) platform, in the COVID-19 confinement period (for the years 2020 and 2021). In this context, we will divide our research into three parts. The first will be reserved for the presentation of the general and current context of the COVID-19 phenomenon. Next, we will explain the extent and impact of this virus on higher education around the world. Finally, a third empirical part will be devoted to the presentation of our research, while demonstrating the impact of COVID-19 on teaching within the HITS of Kairouan, and also the opportunities and constraints of the use of distance education.