Globally, the academic staff of higher education institutions (HEI) experienced serious challenges during the lethal COVID-19 pandemic. To curb the spread, governments throughout the world were obligated to institute stringent lockdown measures such as closure of universities.  resulting in universities postponing or cancelling its campus activities. However, HEIs were eager to maintain their core activities and conduct business as usual. The adoption of online teaching and learning across different educational contexts, whether formal or informal, academic, or non-academic, and residential or remotely (Barrot, Llenares & Rosario, 2021) was inevitable. Academics increasingly adopted e-learning technologies to deliver instruction interactively, share resources impeccably, and facilitate dynamic collaboration and interaction among students (Elaish et al., 2019; Garcia et al., 2018). Thus, for effective teaching and learning to be accomplished, academics were compelled to make paradigm shifts. They had to be digitally literate and technologically savvy. Academics, mainly in developing countries such as South Africa, were also confronted with challenges of poor students who had trouble procuring devices (iphones, ipads, laptops) and data, as well as securing access to WiFi.

One of the key challenges that many academics had to endure in the ‘new normal’ education environment was the smooth transitioning of face-to-face teaching to online teaching. Since academics and students had different levels of preparedness and experiences in the application of online resources, both achieved different outcomes when they transitioned to online education. Many lecturers had trouble using online platforms to conduct examinations or to ensure quality assurance and monitor students during tests and examinations. Furthermore, lecturers had to devise strategies to use specialised resources (e.g., laboratories) to administer practical assessments online. In fact, it was very difficult for some lecturers to teach specific courses (e.g., Architecture) because it required hands-on features for students.

Thus. successful leadership has been more difficult during periods of rapid change but the unique stressors facing organizations throughout the world today has caused a renewed interest in studying personal and organizational behaviour with a focus on what constitutes effective and adaptive leadership. It is Interesting to observe that some leaders and organizations did not only survive, but also thrived in these situations, while others faltered or collapsed under pressure. Resilience may be one way of describing leaders and organisations that survive under difficult circumstances. Moreover, many resilient individuals believe in a core set of moral and ethical principles that help guide them and give them strength during times of uncertainty and pressure.

The Resilience Theory was appropriate to frame the study. This paper explored the effects of Covid-19 on academics and the resilience to continue their teaching program. This theory underscores the philosophies surrounding how people are affected by and adapt to challenging circumstances like adversity, change and risk.

A generic qualitative approach within an interpretivist paradigm was used to examine the experiences and perceptions of how the academic staff in higher education institutions were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Generic research is a theoretically interpretive study that focuses on how people interpret their experiences, how they construct their worlds, and what meaning they attribute to their experiences (Merriam, 2009, 23). Thirteen lecturers employed at various higher education institutions (universities) situated in the Gauteng, Northwest and KwaZulu Natal provinces were purposefully sampled. Nieuwenhuis (2007) describes purposeful sampling as selecting participants who fit specific criteria. For this study, lecturers who had at least three years’ experience teaching undergraduate or postgraduate students and who were employed at a level above lecturer (that is, senior lecturer or associate professors). The study made use of semi-structured interviews which were conducted in-person except for three who opted to complete open-ended questionnaires. This was followed by face-to-face interviews so that incoherent or vague responses in questionnaires could be justified (Barbour, 2014) or to probe further so that the contents of the interview could be enriched (McMillan & Schumacher, 2014). Tesch’s approach of data analysis was applied (Creswell, 2006). This included an inductive process of examining, selecting, categorising, comparing, synthesising and interpreting related to the transcriptions of interviews (McMillan & Schumacher, 2006). Lincoln and Guba’s norms of trustworthiness, namely, credibility and transferability (Creswell, 2006) were observed. Triangulation, member checks and peer debriefing were used to foster confidence that the data was accurately recorded (credibility). Transferability was addressed through the provision of rich descriptions, which allowed the researchers to have a proper understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Member checks were done with the participants to ensure the accuracy of data collection, that is, transcriptions were given to each participant to verify the contents thereof (Creswell, 2006). Ethical considerations such as confidentiality to conduct the study and anonymity were observed. Participants were made aware that they could withdraw from the study at any time.

Findings revealed that the academics experienced serious emotional and psychological stress which were detrimental to their wellbeing. Although academics found difficulty transitioning to online teaching, their resilience helped them cope with the extraordinary circumstances that evolved from Covid-19. While most academic staff suffered from the lack of social interaction and communication during the social distancing and isolation, there were differences in the reactions between academic staff and students during the intermittent lockdown of schools. On the one hand, the Covid-19 brought in serious challenges: Lecturers had to switch to online learning, and the widening digital divide between students living in abject poverty and those who are affluent. The pandemic served to exacerbate this gap. For meaningful teaching and learning to take place, lecturers and students had to be digitally literate as well as have the necessary tools benefit from online teaching and learning. These tools include recent-model computers, appropriate software, stable internet connections, sufficient mobile data and enough privacy in both, lecturers’ and students’ homes to effectively engage in online tuition. Unfortunately, for many students – and indeed, academic staff – these threshold conditions were missing, especially in low-income households and for individuals living in rural areas. This made online learning very difficult. Although progress was made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to reflect on how international universities (including European universities) will be equipped to respond to any unanticipated crises; how resilient are the academic staff to deal with unexpected events; and what lessons can be learned to better equip universities and academic staff to cope with similar adversities in the future (Martin & Furiv, 2020). Concluding remarks

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