Leading Higher Education Institutions through a Global Crisis: A Case Study on Strategies Used by South Africa Universities to Navigate the COVID-19 Pandemic

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-521-8_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Higher Education Institutions; COVID-19; Crisis Management; Transformative leadership; Inter-University Collaborations

Abstract

Global crises have a huge effect on the leadership methods of higher learning institutions across the globe. In 2020, the South African government implemented a series of lockdown protocols to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. In response to these protocols, higher education institutions in South Africa sought different ways to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, which included implementing digital transformation strategies, online teaching strategies, diverse training and support programmes for students and staff members, alongside emergency health protocols. However, the presence of historically configured inequalities in the country and inclusively present in higher education institutions resulted in uneven adaptability to the rapidly changing government policies. This paper will therefore constitute a qualitative review study. The crisis leadership theory, alongside the intersectional crisis leadership theory was used to underpin study. Secondary sources were used to collect data. The paper further used thematic analysis to analyse findings.

The findings of the study show many higher education institutions in South Africa were able to undertake dynamic approaches to overcome challenges that emerged with COVID-19. Approaches taken included things such as undertaking inclusive decision-making processes with staff and students, upgrading digital structures to prepare for e-learning, designing flexible curriculum, redirecting financial responsibilities to aid students and staff gain access to resources needed for teaching and learning practices. However, historical inequalities, embedded in higher education institutions resulted in the presence of funding limitations in some universities, lagging mental and academic support and evident digital divide amongst students and staff. The paper therefore recommends that adaptability to future crisis requires higher education institutions to have in place comprehensive crisis management frameworks to buffer the effects of future crises.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Vumile Mncibi
AU  - Fairhope Gumede
AU  - Sthembiso Mthembu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/29
TI  - Leading Higher Education Institutions through a Global Crisis: A Case Study on Strategies Used by South Africa Universities to Navigate the COVID-19 Pandemic
BT  - Proceedings of The Focus Conference (TFC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 179
EP  - 210
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-521-8_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-521-8_13
ID  - Mncibi2025
ER  -