Pandemics, policies and positionality: how COVID-19 makes the case for postdigital policy making in higher education

As the body of research into postdigital learning during the pandemic continues to grow, this chapter makes the case for new postdigital policy making approaches in universities. Building on previous critical research into the problematic linguistic construction of Higher Education (HE) policy discourse, where human activities in universities are attributed to technology, documents, phrases and frameworks, but not to staff or students, arguments are presented for radical change to the construction and articulation of HE policy. Drawing on examples from my book, Postdigital Positionality, which explores the disconnect between HE inclusivity policies and the widespread digitalisation of society, I call for fresh debate on university policy making reforms. These need to honestly reflect the diverse postdigital contexts of individuals in the HE community. We instantly flipped our educational activities in response to the pandemic, so why are we still leaving HE policy making untouched, as if nothing had changed?