Digitalisation…this magic word which can mean so much or nothing at all. In the face of the pandemic most of professional higher education institutions had to switch online almost overnight. Our members had diverse experiences with e-learning but in the end most of them were forced to improvise it. While improvisation was needed and appreciated, now it’s the time to evaluate and build on this experience in order to switch from emergency based to quality online education.

The health crisis has also highlighted the importance of digital literacy of students and teachers as well. Even though technology is an important factor in online learning, but its improvement do not lead to greater satisfaction among students in the long run. What really matters is the ability of academics to become professional online teachers, offering a creative and innovative learning experience that directly engage the students (Ehlers, EURASHE [1]). Beyond digital literacy there is a need for critical digital literacy, which refers to the skillset of being able to critically analyse information and evaluate its authenticity (Ubachs, EADTU [2]).

[1] https://youtu.be/wmV4dTsoNhA

[2] EURASHE internal webinar PHE@Home Club ‘Digital learning delivery’

Work based learning is the core part of the curriculum of any professionally orientated higher education institution in Europe. As pandemic didn’t leave any extra time to rethink internal placements policies, in the end, the winners (if we can call them this way), were institutions who previously invested to build upon and maintain long term relationships with companies and their responsible personnel. Indeed, no one could doubt the benefits of business-university cooperation any longer.

Our members’ practice shows, that a majority of higher education institutions dealt with placements on one-on-one basis on establishing a conversation with the companies and determining which placements conditions were met so that the students could continue their work. Once again, one-on-one basis-that means endless hours on phone, countless e-mails and online meetings for university administrative personnel on top of their regular duties.

Although some companies have decided that students could continue their placements in a remote mode from home, some sectors were affected substantially and basically closed down, like entertainment and events, tourism or hospitality. On another hand, these industries have been hit harder than education, so in this sense, the schools were in a more comfortable situation than the companies they educate for (Hardorff, Hotelschool the Hague [1]).

[1] https://www.eurashe.eu/pheresponse-to-covid-19-interview-with-arend-hardorff-the-dean-of-the-hotelschool-the-hague/

The crisis has affected student and teachers’ mobility substantially at the same time calling to assume contingency plans based on probable scenarios. The decision of an important number of PHEIs to suspend or postpone mobility is an opportunity consider new forms of mobility such as virtual or blended mobility, which will embrace physical mobility whenever possible. At the same time, our members report the decline interest from students to go on Erasmus from their bedrooms as it contradicts the core of the Programme-concrete experience and relationships brought by a person’s experience during their stay abroad.

But let’s see another way around.

Professional higher education institutions play an important social role in providing access to higher education for students from less traditional, disadvantaged target groups. Yet, in many cases students’ profile makes it more difficult for them to engage in many activities, including mobility. It requires an outstanding determination and very often extra financial support in order to leave their country and establish a new temporary life abroad.

Various models of mobility, shorter physical mobility periods could allow a wider group of students and staff to participate and benefit from foreign study programmes, gain international experience by working with foreign students (even online), learn about the country and culture. Thus, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.

It’s too early to say whether and how the current pandemic may change a current professional higher education sector as we do not have enough of data and research done and are still not sure whether this is all over.

EURASHE Vice President Prof. Dr. Ulf Daniel Ehlers has been researching the transformation of higher education sector long time before the today’s reality and proposed four scenarios [1] of how our universities may look in the future:

1. “Future skill” university scenario. It is a radical turn away from knowledge transmission favor to competence development. Competence is of course including knowledge, but it is rather a “knowledge plus” concept.
2. Networked, multi-institutional study scenario. Today, students are enrolling in a university and graduating from the same university. In the future, students will enroll in a university and they will then embark themselves on a learning journey through different institutions, schools and faculties. Micro-credentials are the methodology that will bring this scenario to life.
3. “My-University” scenario, in which students are enrolling in a university that does not offer pre-made curricula, but rather a choice to its students, asking them what are their interests and how can it help them reach their goals. Only digital technology will allow this scenario, because the individualization process which is at its core can only be supported through digitalization.
4. Lifelong higher learning scenario, which is turning around the understanding of today’s higher education. Today, we think that Bachelor and Master are the focal points of academic education. In the future, we will see a preliminary academic phase during which students will be allowed to enter the job market but they will still have access to an increasing trajectory of academic education.

We have to be honest with ourselves, the future universities may look like one of the proposed scenarios, a combination of them or something completely different. But what we can see already now, we will need to learn how to live with the pandemic at least for a while. This means to adapt or create digital institutional strategies which must clarify how to react swiftly to the raising opportunities and challenges.

Also, in a great fear that the countries become more insular, recognition of prior learning could be an answer in creating more inclusive society. Therefore, we should continue to look for more different ways of recognizing competences for easier access to further studies and for credits.[2]

Finally, although this experience has somewhat perversely shown that we have the confidence and capacity to deliver well remotely, we should understand what quality in online education is and how to address quality delivery in line with European Standards and Guidelines [3].

[1] https://nextskills.org/

[2] https://www.eurashe.eu/rplip-2/

[3] https://enqa.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ESG_2015.pdf