Preferred Reporting Items for A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Prisma): The Impact of Covid-19 on University Reputation and Comparative Evaluation

Abstract

This systematic literature review outstretches the significance of reputation to university institutions. A positive university reputation (UR) is a prerequisite to national, mental, environmental, economic, and human development. One of the unexpected reputational threats faced by different organizations globally is the emergence of C0VID-19. The negative "UR" impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic came swiftly and worse in Africa as the continent lacks adequate university facilities to meet the challenges. The Purpose: of this current study is to analyze the research published on the UR during COVID-19 and make comparative evaluation. The first aspect of the study searched the literature that allows us to identify the level of research done on COVID-19 and UR. The second stream of literature focused on the classification of literature regarding the impact of the covid-19 on university reputation. Among all the research done on the COVID-19 Pandemic, how much of this research focused on university reputation? How many of these research are from Nigeria's perspective? Thus, this systematic literature review is on the synthesis of university reputation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Method: used in this systematic literature review is the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Framework. The Findings: divulged that in the past years (1951-2022), out of 391,004 document results on coronaviruses related searched, only 216 document results were on university reputation from previous (1986-2022) years of studies. During COVID-19, out of 57 document results, only a total of 4 document results were found on UR, and Italy contributed the most, followed by Egypt, Malaysia, and the UK. No African country contributed significantly to this topic. The findings established that the absence of African countries in scientific research on university reputation mirrors the state of the continent’s backwardness in terms of development in numerous capacities. Again, the review paper evidenced that the concept of “University Reputation” has not been given much concern in the literature despite the numerous kinds of research conducted during COVID-19. This gap might result in global higher education issues in the future if a new wave of pandemics emerges. Consequently, the bedrock to solving humanity's problems, advanced national economy, and development emanate from reputable universities. This study has practical, contextual, academic institutional, government and policy-making, and methodological implications. Regarding practical implications, this study provides premium information on the relevance of UR to national development. The findings also contribute to the body of scientific knowledge and add to the existing literature on UR. Again, the study excites awareness on the level of research conducted before and after COVID-19 on UR and the country, subject area, journal, and paper type that contributed most towards UR research. This paper presents the first study of its kind, using a systematic literature review and comparative evaluation to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on University Reputation (UR), showing the position of Africa towards UR and its consequences. The SLR is the first to examine literature classification on UR by subject areas, the field of studies, contexts (countries), and journals. However, the search strategy was scientifically tailored and limited to the Scopus database.