The COVID-19 pandemic challenged higher education (HE), university teachers, and students around the globe in 2020. Overnight, COVID-19 brought sudden changes and unexpected shifts to remote teaching and learning, putting teachers and students in an extraordinary situation. Although much research (e.g., Badiozaman et al., 2023; Bajaj et al., 2021; Baker et al., 2022; Leal Filho et al., 2023) has been conducted across different sectors, universities, countries, and continents involving different actors since COVID-19, there are indications that much more research is needed (Baker et al., 2022; Imran et al., 2023).

Our study departs from and complements the existing literature in multiple ways. Firstly, due to the cultural context, the research tries to determine the pandemic’s implications in the post-COVID era in Latvian HE. Secondly, the research considers the perspectives of both students and teachers using the case of the University of Latvia (UL). Thirdly, although quite a few studies have been conducted about HE during the COVID-19 period in Latvia, none have yet been published about Latvian HE in the post-COVID-19 period. Finally, although the challenges that every university faces are different, the results will be useful for all HE institutions in Latvia and other post-Soviet European countries.

The research questions to be answered are as follows:

RQ1     Since COVID-19, have students and teachers perceived any changes in HE (teaching and learning, e-environment, use of technologies, study modes and design)?

RQ2     Since COVID-19, have students and teachers perceived any positive benefits in the study process?

RQ3     Has the post-COVID-19 era promoted socialization among students?

RQ4     Are there any differences between the two groups of respondents

Previous research indicates that COVID-19 brought both challenges and new advantages to HE (Kalniņa et al., 2023).

The pandemic reshaped the priorities of HE and HE found ways to overcome the COVID-19 crisis through digital transformation technology (Leal Filho et al., 2023). There was hope that this digital transformation would continue in the post-COVID-19 era (Rubene et al., 2021). Furthermore, there was an assumption that HE would be better prepared after COVID-19 to accept and include technology as an essential component of the learning process to make face-to-face learning more flexible and engaging (Benito et al., 2021), thus promoting sustainable development.

Nevertheless, the shift to so-called emergency remote teaching during COVID-19 showed that both teachers and students could adapt to new ways of learning (Baker et al., 2022) and promoted a general sense of flexibility in HE. First of all, this flexibility involved moving into asynchronous modes of pre-recorded lectures, flexible schedules, different paces and engagement with course materials, and hybrid/dual modes (online and in-person delivery of lectures and seminars) (Baker et al., 2022; Siow et al., 2021), simulations, virtual reality, and augmented reality (Chans et al., 2023). Secondly, assessment and assessment policies were modified in order to take barriers affecting students’ learning during COVID-19 into account (Baker et al., 2022; Siow et al., 2021). Thirdly, different engaging activities were provided due to the difficulties of students keeping attention (Kalniņa et al., 2023). Fourthly, students and teachers were supported psychologically and in the study process by providing teachers with support and resources, helping to raise the competencies of educators in online teaching (Siow et al., 2021), and students with additional materials online (Kalniņa et al., 2023).

This research adopted an online survey using a quantitative method of data collection. Based on the literature review, the research team developed a structured QuestionPro questionnaire with 37 questions that was then shared with lecturers and students from UL. The questionnaire consisted of four sections. The first demographic section was composed of 10 questions (gender, age, study level, and position at the university). Section two consisted of 15 questions related to the use of artificial intelligence in HE, section three included questions about the self-directed learning experience in HE, and section four included questions related to students’ experience of HE in the post-COVID-19 era. This paper analyzes only part of the questionnaire related to the research questions and considers the seven questions on students’ post-COVID-19 experiences in HE. Some questions required respondents to answer using a 4-point Likert scale or were simple yes/no questions, and others were open-ended. The original questionnaire was reviewed by three field experts to ensure content reliability. Slight modifications were made based on their recommendations. Next, a pilot survey was conducted. Responses were obtained from 1,053 participants. The study followed UL’s research ethics recommendations, and respondents were guaranteed complete anonymity. A convenience sampling method was employed to select respondents based on their availability and willingness to participate. When the data were analyzed, Rather agree and Fully agree responses were combined as positive answers. In the analysis of each question, it was taken into consideration that some respondents (students) did not answer questions or did not have an opinion about changes due to the fact that they were not studying at the time of COVID-19, so comparisons could not be made, and those answers were filtered out. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey data, and a Mann–Whitney U test was conducted to test the differences. First, we tested the internal consistency of the measurements of the survey instruments using Cronbach’s alpha. An alpha value of 0.7 is conventionally used as a reliability threshold (Taber, 2018). The reliability of all measurements in the survey was excellent (α=.971).

COVID-19 has impacted and will continue to impact the future of HE. Our research revealed that both teachers and students recognize the transformation of HE in the case of UL. Both groups of respondents agree that teachers have demonstrated greater flexibility in the study process since COVID-19 – they are more ready to adapt to students’ requests, different delivery modes are provided during the study process, many more online study opportunities are provided, and more technologies are used. Overall, UL uses different forms of study organization: fully remote, hybrid, and fully face-to-face. At the same time, more than half of the students admitted that the tendency to return to the old normal mode is a reality. Our results show that the university’s e-study environment (e-platform) has been improved and is now better adjusted for the students’ needs to study independently, better structured, and better provided with materials for students. Although there was a hope that COVID-19 would bring some changes to HE pedagogies to become more student-centred, inclusive and personalized, our research shows that there is still a long way to go in this regard, despite some initial progress. Regarding the question about students’ socialization, students socialize less than before, although there are some significant differences in how students and teachers responded to this question (students were more positive). In fact, students were much more positive about many aspects analyzed in the current research, and significant differences were indicated between the two groups of respondents in relation to many questions. COVID-19 represented a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the sector to promote long-needed changes to promote changes by enhancing the digitalization, flexibility and inclusiveness of future learning experiences in HE. Thus, we hope that the pandemic’s positive effects will be used to ensure sustainable and more inclusive HE in the future.

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