The purpose of this conference is to explore innovations and best-practices in teaching and learning that have evolved out of the COVID-19 pandemic and are expected to have lasting impacts on the education sector moving forward. The conference is open to academics, students, education administrators, professionals, and industry stakeholders whose works are based on and can broaden our understanding of the conference theme: “Exploring Teaching, Learning and Administrative Excellence Beyond the Pandemic.”

Apart from the devastating impacts that COVID-19 has had on public health and social life, the pandemic has led to significant disruptions in the world of work. According to the World Health Organization (2020), millions of enterprises around the world have faced an existential threat due to COVID-19. Consequently, businesses and institutions world-wide, big and small, have had to quickly evolve and adapt measures to weather the crisis.

The story of the education sector has been no different- it has faced a tremendous level of disruption and has attempted to respond with flexibility and adaptability. On the one hand, millions of students at all levels of education have been forced out of classrooms, as schools and universities have cancelled in-class learning. On the other, there has been a large-scale adaptation of on-line learning as an immediate response to this crisis. As per the World Economic Forum (2020), the overall market for online education was already rapidly growing in recent times: e-tech investments in tools and services like language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, and online learning software was US$18.7 billion in 2019 and it was expected to reach $350 billion by 2025. With the advent of the pandemic, it is expected that the surge in demand for such platforms will now grow even faster. Parallel to this evolution at the institution level, there has also been a tremendous level of adaptation at the individual and administrative level. Educators and administrators worldwide have developed and adapted new approaches and techniques to make sure that their students can properly participate and stay engaged during on-line classes, so that lessons can be effectively delivered and learning outcomes can be met.

While these measures taken by institutions and educators might have managed to curb some of the challenges related to education accessibility, the COVID-19 pandemic has nonetheless created and continues to create adverse impacts on student experiences, mental well-being, and expectations world-wide.¹

[1] A study (Aucejo et al., 2020) done with students from a large U.S. public university found that 13% have delayed their graduation due to the pandemic. On the aspect of mental well-being, a recent online survey (Son et al., 2020) found that 71% of students reported facing increased levels of stress and anxiety due to the pandemic.