Crisis Management During Pandemics: How to Promote Sustainability in Higher Education

Introduction: Global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic have posed a critical challenge to education and have hampered progress towards sustainability in higher education. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the impact of pandemic crisis management on the sustainability of higher education. Methods: This research was based on a mixed approach and, in terms of the nature of the data, consisted of two qualitative and quantitative phases. Qualitative data based on the grounded theory were collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 university leaders. The statistical population in the quantitative section consisted of 240 employees and faculty members from agricultural faculties in Tehran province, and the resulting data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: Qualitative data were examined through three phases: open, axial, and selective coding, resulting in the identification of 393 open codes, including 98 ideas across eight primary themes. After validating the model obtained from the qualitative phase, all relationships between variables were confirmed through path analysis. The findings indicated the advancement and enhancement of six factors: the creation of laws and regulations, financial resources, infrastructure, communication and collaboration, human resource management, and social capital, which facilitated the promotion of pandemic crisis management. Likewise, pandemic crisis management affects the sustainability of higher education. Discussion: This research helps to document the pandemic crisis management model of agricultural colleges so that the sustainability of higher education can be achieved through understanding the conditions and strategies of pandemic crisis management. Also, this paper expands the knowledge about the management of the pandemic, which necessitates the sustainability of the functioning of the higher education system.