The Challenges Facing Higher Education in Light of Corona Virus (COVID-19) and Its Impact on Student’s Academic Achievement: Empirical Study on Jordanian and Syrian Private Universities

Abstract

This study aims to identify the challenges facing the higher education system considering the Corona pandemic and its impact on the achievement of students in Jordanian and Syrian private universities.The study covers several independent variables: Curriculum challenges, challenges facing faculty members, challenges related to the infrastructure of universities, challenges related to pandemic response procedures, challenges in the ability to reduce Educational Wastage, and challenges related to health infrastructure.The data of the study are collected through a questionnaire designed for the purposes of the study, and data are collected from a sample of faculty members at Philadelphia University and Ebla University. The first part of the questionnaire consists of information about faculty members, and the second part of the questionnaire includes (47) Items or questions that represent the challenges. The questionnaire is distributed electronically via e-mail to faculty members in both universities, and the number of valid questionnaires for analysis is (65), representing the sample size. The study uses the statistical program "SPSS" where the data are processed and analyzed. The results of the study show that the sample members feel strongly about all challenges that faced them and the highest mean value is (4.4495), which is an indicator that the students’ academic achievement is affected by the challenges faced by the faculty members. Although all the variables have high mean value, we found that the lowest mean is (3.9540) for the challenges related to health infrastructure. The study recommends to pay attention and follow-up on students and faculty members in universities to confront the Corona pandemic.