1. Introduction

In this competitive world, universities have become more inclined towards marketisation and there are the similar expectation from them to transform into more sustainable institutions. These are expected to be change-agents pushing forward the sustainable development movement. Shapiro (2009) has claimed that universities have two roles, i.e. to serve the existing society and to challenge society for shaping a better future. With the existing planetary crisis and sustainable development movement, there are new demands over higher education. The current pandemic of COVID-19 and sustainable development goals by the United Nations in 2030 has called for a more proactive and paramount role of universities to address (UNESCO, 2020). This is the right time to redefine social contract which exists between society and higher education and it was vaguely defined among logics of either social or industry institution. The current sustainable development movement calls for universities to perform a more proactive role for being more ‘responsible institutions’ (Sady ?ak & Rzepka, 2019). The prevalent discussion about sustainable development and societal change caused by pandemic has relevance for higher education as well and it calls for the same responsible initiatives from universities to secure a better and sustainable future. There is a special strategic role of the university as educators and producers of future generations, hence this research will be conducted to explore the future role of universities to examine how universities can become more responsible.

This research will be aiming to explore the overall alternative university futures in responses to such pandemics in the future where it will be analysed how universities are influenced and how they can perform their role at the societal level to cope up with this challenge. This is the right time to explore such educational solutions which are aimed at the unexpected events and their related implications resolution (Viner et al. 2020). The comprehensive nature of such education systems needs to address the relative pandemic strain situations and their subsequent effects along with related risks. The topic of the research, in this regard, has not only been significantly formed around the contemporary issues regarding university systems, but the practical implications of long-term sustainability and related building and development of alternative university futures have been kept in consideration within the given research too. The meaningful contributions of research can add to the alternative university futures, literature regarding university and higher education, practical sustainability issues considerations within the universities (Teras et al. 2020), and other such are practically applicable as well as theoretical ways. This research will enable stakeholders to get integrative insights about the role of universities in a sustainable future.

1.1. Research Aim

The broad aim of the current research is to explore, analyse and evaluate the relative implications of building alternative university futures where universities can perform a more responsible role. The primary focus of the research has been posted around the analysis of current challenges related to pandemic and sustainability. It will intend to conceptualise the new role of universities in managing the pandemic at a wider level. The research will address the sustainability issues that are deemed critical for universities effectively and practically applying solutions to mitigate such issues.

1.2. Research Questions

The research aims to answer the following questions in line with the defined research problems and associated aims of the research:

• What has been the influence of COVID-19 on higher education and general university education within the UK?
• What considerations need to be critically considered within the development of alternative university futures in the light of impacts of COVID-19 on Universities and higher education?
• What are the primary and most critical sustainability issues for UK universities to address the identified sustainability issues comprehensively?
How can universities become more responsible institutions for managing the after-effects of COVID-19 in society, at the global level?

2. Background and Originality

According to Wright (2010), the conceptualisation of sustainability issues within the universities is one of the pertinent issues as previously these universities are considered excluded for their role in sustainable development, but now the reality has changed. In the previous years and recent times, the focus on sustainability issues and related applications within the universities of the UK has been a fashion (Lozano and Young, 2013) but now there is a need to redefine the role of universities. With the pressures from global institutions like the UN, the importance of sustainability trends and issues has become more and more critical to proving their secure and sustainable future. The sustainability issues, perspectives and challenges, in this regard, have become a relatively major consideration on the part of universities as these needs to be well integrated into the business model of universities. As also highlighted by Dmochowski et al. (2016) and McGibbon and Van Belle (2015) to only add sustainability in higher education curriculum will not suffice in future and universities are expected to perform a bigger role. Hence, the role of updated research has become critical in validating the contemporary issues related to sustainability within the universities. The subsequent impacts of such sustainability issues and their mitigation is another one of the critical aspects missing in current research (Sahin et al. 2012). Therefore, the focus of current research has been significantly posted around the subject matter of contemporary sustainability issues and their considerations within the sustainable future of universities where an integrative role of universities has to be conceptualised to ensure their sustainability as a responsible institute.

Another recent challenge for universities is about the on-going pandemic of COVID-19, which has highlighted the need for more comprehensive research studies to cope up with its after-effects which may last over the next decades. According to Chick et al. (2020), the focus on digital solutions has been directed due to the limitations that happened as a result of COVID-19. The first and foremost consideration of COVID came in the form of social distancing. The concept of the conventional form of education became instantly exhausted due to such social distancing implications. The author of the research further indicates that the pace and progression towards digital methods incorporation in the field of education and higher education has been significantly elevated through the implications of the pandemic situation. The primary argument, in this regard, has been that the emergence of such concepts has been paced via a pandemic strain situation. Such implications further indicate that possibilities of alternative university futures exist and can be achieved quickly, but the focus of the current education system is not on alternative university futures (Zhong et al. 2020) as up till now no single study has considered this perspective before.

However, the current pandemic situation has raised a significant issue, in this regard, and the legislators regarding educational systems and administrations of universities are inclined to think of innovative ways to incorporate the impacts of the current pandemic into building and development of alternative university future. The COVID-19 pandemic and its related implications have indicated that the alternative futures of general education systems and university level education are prone to risks associated with such pandemics and their subsequent effects. Although, the digital education responses to higher education have been deemed somewhat appropriate, but the need of the time is to look for alternative future which are sustainable. The alternative futures where education programs and pandemic related risks and factors like social distancing can be mitigated without compromising any critical element of education (Chick et al. 2020). The COVID-19 implications, being a pandemic of contemporary and recent times, are currently missing in the research literature. Therefore, the need of the time for the research is to focus on the relative considerations related to a pandemic like COVID-19 within the development of alternative university futures.

The originality of the research is further complemented through the integration of sustainability issues and COVID-19 impacts and their contributions towards the building of alternative university futures. Hence, the focus of current research will be about the implications of identification, analysis, and evaluation of all issues concerning the responsible role of universities.

3. Methodological Approach

The methodological approach of any given research is considered extremely critical in terms of the overall approach towards the questions to be answered within any given research. Owing to the nature of the current research topic, the interpretivism research philosophy has been chosen for the currently proposed research. The interpretivism allows a subjective but in-depth approach towards any given subject matter (Choy, 2014). Hence, the nature of current research demands such critical implications in terms of in-depth analysis of the subject matter. The research issue, which is novel enough that there are not more than a few studies on it, can only be studied well with the interpretivism approach.

The qualitative research methodology will be selected for the current research. The nature of the research variables is such that it requires qualitative analysis of the subject matter. Research variables like the influence of COVID 19, sustainability issues, and related considerations towards alternative university futures are all such variables which can be effectively explained through qualitative research methods. The rationale for selecting the qualitative methodology is that exploring this research issue needs in-depth insights and these cannot be obtained without using the qualitative methods.

The research will take an exploratory approach towards the analysis and evaluation of the COVID-19 impacts and sustainability issues within the universities of the UK. The clarification of the exact issues (Fletcher, 2017) and the identification of critical considerations related to COVID-19 like pandemic and sustainability issues can be effectively explained with the help of such exploratory research, hence this approach seems more suitable. There is not any single study which exists in the literature about exploring the alternative university future, hence exploration of such research issues needs the exploratory research design.

In terms of sources of data collection, the primary data collection method has been chosen for the proposed research. As the focus of the proposed research is on contemporary issues regarding the subject matter and there are not many secondary sources available regarding this research issue. The relative focus of the study needs to be on primary data collection to address, identify, and evaluate such contemporary trends and issues (Mohajan, 2018). The interview method will be used to collect such primary data for the proposed research. As per the nature of this study, semi-structured interview guides will be developed and these will be used for data collection.

Using the multiple actor view, various stakeholders will be considered for data collection. The interviews will also be conducted from the UK universities management, teachers and students. It is planned that regulatory bodies will also be considered for data collection. The qualitative analysis of the subject matter will be done through thematic analysis and it will be using open, axial and selective coding techniques to analyse the patterns in data (MacDonald, 2012).

The following time plan will be used for this study and it is planned that it will be completed within 3 years. Figure 1. GANTT Chart

4. Impact

The selected realm of building alternative university futures in itself presents a unique research perspective. Limited research has been conducted regarding the subject matter, but this contemporary issue needs the attention of researchers. The focus on sustainability issues and their mitigation present a rather critical perspective on the overall research, which is a rather missing perspective within the current research literature because of the misguided and confused role of universities. The pandemic has also changed the realities of the university’s present and future. Hence, this research will bring valuable contributions to the existing literature.

This research is going to analyse multiple perspectives and roles of universities under the realm of alternative future. The insights which are needed to clarify the role, expectations, challenges and issues about sustainability for universities will be obtained. Therefore, in light of the above arguments, it can be significantly determined that the overall impact and originality of the research is significantly critical and validated. The expected outcomes to the research questions can significantly contribute to the legislation regarding building alternative university futures. Furthermore, the expected outcomes regarding sustainability can further add to the overall knowledge for university administrations to consider while designing their sustainability approach. For policy making, this research will provide value insights about the future role of universities.

References

 

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