In this blog post, we recommend ten books that can help you understand the higher education ecosystem, navigate the transformation it is going through, and prepare for the future.

As COVID-19 gathered momentum, universities across the world closed their campuses to control the spread of disease. Remote learning became the norm, even as instructors were struggling through unknown territories. Over the course of the last year, though, things have changed.

“Remote Learning Is a Bad Joke,” alarmed a headline in the Atlantic in August last year. College students also regularly reported feeling distant and unsupported without the community and interaction that campus education offers.

Over 19% of undergraduate students in the US report some form of disability. Even before the pandemic, disabled students faced challenges of accessibility, inclusivity and learning. Now, the sudden and inevitable transition to online learning has affected their routines and steepened their learning curves.

In a study, “Survey of Student Perceptions of Remote Teaching and Learning,” by Digital Promise and Langer Research, students cited a lack of interactivity and collaboration as the reasons for their “diminished experience” in remote learning.

The beginning of a school year is as exciting as it is an anxious time for both new and returning students. They are full of questions about what the future holds. This is truer of 2020, when a pandemic has engulfed the entire world. They are looking to your team at the university to offer reassurance and support.