Challenges of higher education as a public service during the COVID-19 pandemic: Students' perspective

Abstract

In this paper, the authors present the key challenges encountered by the higher education as a public service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper aims to examine the opinions of full-time and part-time students on the organization of the educational process during the pandemic. The key hypothesis set in this paper is that the observed higher education institution ensured an efficient educational process and maintained appropriate teacher-student relations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents in the survey were full-time and part-time students of the professional undergraduate administrative study programme at the Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, and the Administrative Department of the College of Applied Sciences Lavoslav Ružička in Vukovar. The survey results were expected to either prove or disprove the basic hypothesis. The research results were analyzed by applying the descriptive statistics method. The scientific contribution to administrative science is evident in the theoretical background for conducting the empirical research at the Faculty of Law in Osijek and the College of Applied Sciences in Vukovar, the analysis of major challenges encountered by teachers and students, the final conclusions and proposals for improving the organization of the educational process in future extraordinary circumstances.