Practicality of ELITE O2O Innovative University: Reframing the Oxbridge Model in the Global Higher Education in Post COVID-19 Era
COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the world economy, the global governance system, the international political landscape and the global higher education. However, from a historical, dialectical and systematic perspective, the interdependence of human survival still exists, the basic development elements of maintaining the global economy and the global higher education will not be swayed by the virus. When MOOC was launched in 2008, it was only twenty-five students attended the course on the campus of the University of Manitoba while 2300 from around the world participated online. Hardly anybody could predicate that over one billion students around the world have to study online courses in 2020 after 12 years of the birth of MOOC. With outbreak of COVID-19, technology enhanced learning and digitalization have been rapidly adopted globally by education institutions which play a key role for the continuity of the education and learning. Not only so, more emerging online innovative universities have begun to penetrate into the global higher education systems which post challenges in changing the traditional university model of 800 years old. No doubt, this unprecedented impact caused by the pandemic would ultimately lead to a great revolution in the global higher education. However, could the online innovative model substitute the traditional one? Could the vision and mission of the university be delivered without compromising the quality? The primary aim of this paper reframes the Oxbridge model in the global higher education by the examination the case of ELITE Innovation College.
In the post COVID-19 era, internalization and global engagement continue to be crucial. Collaboration and competition are intensifying simultaneously under the growing influence of market forces and the emergence of new players. How will global higher education evolve over the next 20 years? How can governments and education institutions take the challenges and make the most of the opportunities in the post COVID-19 era?
ELITE Innovation College: A Case Study
According to the recent OECD report, COVID-19 crisis has forced school closures in 188 countries, heavily disrupting the learning process of more than 1.7 billion children, youth, and their families. Digital revolution and online-learning solutions were implemented to ensure education continuity during this difficult time. Much of the current debate focuses on how much students have learnt during school closures and this potential learning loss may only be temporary, however, other important elements that happen during the school closures, such as the curbing of educational aspirations, the disengagement from the university system and absence from the familiar academic ambience on campus will have a long-term impact on students’ journey and learning outcomes.
The Strong Features of the ELITE O2O Innovation University
ELITE is an acronym of e-learning of innovation, technology and entrepreneurship within an O2O Innovation University@[1] in the global higher education. Almost all the universities and colleges are currently delivering courses online based upon the MOOC experiences since the outbreak of Covid-19. In fact, there is similarities of online delivery around the globe as universities and colleges have been forced to do so. The strategic intention of establishment of ELITE O2O (online and offline) Innovative Education Platform is an exploration of an innovative education pedagogy of integrating the delivery of programmes, knowledge, contents and education ethos with a global vision embedded in the teaching and learning strategy built into the technological system of O2O university. This technological innovation system demonstrates how various features and objectives of innovative and entrepreneurial university can be created, translated, articulated and achieved in a learning organization context.
[1] Please see further details on Working Paper ELITE Initiative for Creating Innovative and Entrepreneurial University in the Global Higher Education presented by Richard Li-Hua at MoE Conference, 2016, Wenzhou, China.