Preventive measures such as mask mandate, application of hand sanitizers, social distancing, people’s quarantine, working from home policy, have been carried out to tackle with the epidemic to reduce the number of workers in office space; scarcity of healthcare personnel and limitation of healthcare services in hospitals also result in establishing of hospitels in almost every corner of the world. It is additionally worth mentioning that health-related organizations at the global scale tirelessly cooperate to come up with vaccination against COVID-19 as prevention/reduction of infected rate is considered far better than remedy.
Significantly, modes of communication have been largely changed from a face-to-face approach to online platforms, where many different types of teleconferencing software are available for relevant bodies to choose from. Higher education institutions, whose key responsibilities are directed towards teaching delivery, research and academic services, are expected to provide insights and solutions of how global citizens will productively live and work amidst the pandemic and how they should move on through lessons viewed, learned and addressed by universities and interested bodies. The pandemic, soon-to-be an endemic, of COVID-19 not only challenges higher education institutions’ roles in providing quality teaching, research and services but also reshapes how universities are required to cope with this abrupt adaption in order to maintain standards to sufficiently and efficiently respond to increasing needs of learners and a more dynamic and flexible environment.
| • | Teaching delivery and technology-aided learning environment. |
| • | Commercialized research for productivities and better quality of life |
| • | Equity and easily access academic services |