COVID-19 Pandemic and Strategizing the Higher Education Policies of Public Universities of Ethiopia

• Published in: International journal of sociotechnology and knowledge development Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 1 - 16
• Main Authors: Dereso, Chala Wata, Meher, Kishor Chandra, Shobe, Abebe Asfawu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hershey IGI Global 01.04.2022
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Analysis; Colleges & universities; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Education; Education policy; Education, Higher; Educational technology; Ethiopia; Learning; Random sampling; Students; Teachers; Teaching; Universities and colleges; Ethiopia
• ISSN: 1941-6253; 1941-6261
• DOI: 10.4018/IJSKD.2022040101

The purpose of the research is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on higher education policies and their effect on students' academic performance at public universities in Ethiopia. The study adopts a quantitative approach followed by causal analysis by applying structural equation modeling. A sample of 384 has been selected through simple random sampling out of a large population of academic staff spread homogeneously across Ethiopia. The study variables are COVID-19, higher education policies, digital learning, teacher preparedness, and student academic performance. The findings reveal that the hypothesized model becomes a perfect fit. Based on the standardized coefficient, the most influencing path is the effect of higher education policy on digital learning, followed by the impact of COVID-19 on higher education policy, academic performance, and teacher preparedness, respectively. The study has further observed the partial effect of teacher preparedness on the students' academic performance.