COVID-19: Impacts on Universities - Sustainability, Mission and Identity

In less than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has irrevocably changed our world and our way of being in the world. Politics, both global and domestic, our economy, and the institutions of civic society have all suffered profoundly under its weight.

Likewise, our universities and higher education institutions, too, have been deeply affected across domains such as teaching, learning, research, administration, and engagement. Challenges have confronted every facet of the university’s role within the life of its students and within society itself. Not only has COVID-19 precipitated a crisis of sustainability for universities’ financial model, but it has also raised existential challenges regarding their identity and whether their mission to serve the Common Good remains both recognised, and relevant, in contemporary society.

As they seek to navigate through and beyond this crisis, it is the overriding responsibility of university leadership to remain attentive to doing what they have always done, ensuring that they remain a resource through which the formation of their students’ intellectual and moral capital is fostered. This can only be achieved, however, if they are willing to engage in an honest, reflective questioning of themselves and their ongoing purpose.

In this online symposium, Skellig has brought together leading academics from across Europe to reflect on the effects and the implications of this crisis, and also the lessons that we need to learn to help ensure that our universities remain a cornerstone of our economies, the custodian of foundational values, and the portal for authentic education.

Introductory Reflections