Risk management strategies for teaching and learning in Ghanaian public universities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic swept through the world with severe impacts on all spheres of human life. In the higher education sector, the pandemic distorted academic calendars and upended many activities such as examinations and graduation ceremonies. This chapter examines various institutional risk management strategies for teaching and learning that were adopted by public universities in Ghana in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using qualitative data involving secondary data and interviews, the chapter solicits experiences and opinions of key officers in ten public universities about strategies that were used to respond to risks posed to teaching and learning by the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter reveals that public universities adopted different but somewhat similar risk management strategies for teaching and learning depending on prior institutional risk management policies, government directives, and resource availability as explicated later in the chapter. The chapter recommends the development and implementation of risk policies and management strategies which involve building the capacity of university leadership to better manage risks that affect teaching and learning in the future.