Beckoning a New Post-COVID Higher Education Engagement Agenda: Lessons from Nelson Mandela University COVID-19 Responses

The COVID-19 pandemic set higher education institutions on an unprecedented path requiring of them to identify alternative strategies and implement various initiatives to sustain their academic projects. With the widespread devastation of the pandemic, the purpose of universities within their communities were again in the spotlight. A sensibility of the intertwinement between the local university and the community was also reemphasised in the pandemic's wake, with the recognition of COVID-19 as a crosscutting problem. This paper examines Nelson Mandela University's engagement initiatives during the pandemic to underline its fundamental strategic undertakings within its positioning as a "transformative, responsive university in service of society". Through an interpretive paradigm, the paper presents lessons from a qualitative, explorative case study inquiry of Nelson Mandela University reports during the pandemic. The findings indicate that the initiatives deployed by the university during the pandemic strengthened its overall community engagement strategy.