Abstract
This research paper aims at assessing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on rural institutions of higher learning in South Africa. It further explores lessons learnt from the magnitude of the pandemic. Covid-19 does not discriminate – it spares no institution, no organisation, and no country but infects and affects everyone. Some institutions of learning, when hit by Covid-19 were better prepared to fight it because their alert levels were higher than that of African countries. This study adopted a desktop approach which relied on published data. The paper concludes that the impact of Covid-19 on institutions of higher learning was catastrophic. The magnitude of the Covid-19 pandemic on rural institutions of higher learning in South Africa was devastating because some universities had no strategy to counter the challenge. One of the lessons learnt was that the universities’ think-tanks should plan in advance, be proactive, and be ahead of any challenge.
 Keywords: Covid-19; e-learning; higher learning; impact; lessons; pandemic 
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Highlights
The successful curbing of pandemics of such gigantic proportions as Covid-19 depends on how effectively university management, lecturers and students are prepared in seriously utilising tools in managing, accessing, allocating, monitoring and evaluating the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in learning and teaching
Predicting what may happen in future is difficult, since there are no references to similar cases. (UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean,2020)
A few fortunate Black universities in South Africa had some ICTs in place, but this paper argues that having technical knowhow is not enough as without appropriately training students and lecturers, especially in terms of accessing content knowledge, will not help curb the magnitude of the effects of Covid-19
Summary
The successful curbing of pandemics of such gigantic proportions as Covid-19 depends on how effectively university management, lecturers and students are prepared in seriously utilising tools in managing, accessing, allocating, monitoring and evaluating the adoption and use of ICTs in learning and teaching. Higher Education Institutions [HEIs] should prepare students for the world of work, and for flexibility and adaptability in dealing with crises of day-to-day life. The higher education sector should ensure that students are equipped with the necessary skills, the professional attributes and learning techniques that will help them to deal with outbreaks such as the Covid-19 pandemic. (UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean ,2020). Waruru (2020) states that the Covid-19 pandemic has suddenly come upon us and swamped us with innumerable uncertainties for the higher education sector, especially in terms of international relations and mobility
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