Zimbabwe’s Tertiary Education During and Post COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities. A Case of a University in Zimbabwe

The coronavirus disease code-named COVID-19 is a fatal disease that severely affected all facets of life globally, without sparing the education sector. This paper used the functional approach, examining the challenges to teaching and learning during and after the COVID-19 era in universities in Zimbabwe. The study assesses how the changes in the teaching and learning processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic affected learners and lecturers in universities in Zimbabwe and evaluates the measures taken by universities to address the effects of COVID-19 on the learning and teaching processes. A case study was undertaken in a metropolitan city in Zimbabwe. Seven lecturers were purposively sampled from the university’s 8 faculties, seventy learners were chosen distributively from each faculty as a sample to represent the learners. Semi-structured interviews with lecturers, focus group interviews with learners, naturalistic observations and document analyses were used as tools for gathering primary and secondary data. The research established that an assortment of online platforms and applications were employed during the COVID-19 era to enhance e-learning, particularly during the lockdown periods. WhatsApp emerged as the most commonly used learning platform probably due to affordability and availability. Challenges faced by many learners included the high cost of data, electricity load-shedding, lack of advanced digital skills and poor internet connectivity among others. The study established that there was a decline in research output at local universities. Opportunities which arose included among others, increased awareness of platforms to share knowledge, opportunity to do business, and exposure to new online teaching and learning technologies which could transform the local education sector into a leading 21st century status. The study emerged as an important tool for various stakeholders including parents, universities and the government. It unearthed several important aspects of COVID-19 focusing on academia. The study revealed that the hybrid learning approach is likely to continue into the foreseeable future of tertiary education post-COVID-19 era).