The Impact of Covid-19 on the Work Practices of Teaching and Administrative Staff in Public Universities in Ghana: A Qualitative Case Study

The outbreak of COVID-19 revealed the unpreparedness of many people and institutions to deal with crisis situation. The pandemic has brought about changes in the operations of both teaching and non-teaching personnel in institutions. The objective of this study was to explore the aftermath impact and challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the work of faculty members and administrators in a public university context. Employing a holistic case study design using a qualitative research approach, the study recruited 54 senior members (teaching and non-teaching) from five colleges, 18 Faculties/schools, and nine directorates senior members using a multi-stage selection techniques. The study found key challenges of administrative staff due to the pandemic to include staff unreceptiveness, role ambiguity, supervision issues, lesson plan and delivery issues, assessment issues, poor trainee disposition, trainee unpreparedness, among others. Participants also intimated that the pandemic has resulted in shifts to remote learning, requiring administrative support in the provision of Information communication Technology (ICT) services to ensure students’ access to the necessary technology, among others. A majority further mentioned measures such as strengthening institutional alert and response capacities through the creation of pandemic task forces, diversifying university academic programmes to attract massive student enrolments support, institutionalizing the use of blended learning modes among others to mitigate the adverse effects of future pandemics. These measures, according to the interviewees have been effective especially because they have resulted in flexible work and learning, which helps to improve institutional productivity and the finances of the university in the face of dwindling government subventions. The study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges for teaching and administrative work in public universities and so these universities have to put in place effective measures to mitigate the adverse effects of future pandemics.