Continuity and Accessibility in Higher Education Amid Armed Conflict

Verena Régent; Roi Avila; Limor Aharonson-Daniel; Dorit Alt; Svitlana Tarasenko; Anna Vorontsova

doi:10.21240/zfhe/20-4/07

This paper investigates HEIs’ adaptive strategies to sustain operations and activities amid armed conflict, focusing on an emergency-induced shift to a cloud university model. Drawing on organizational theory as well as institutional and conflict management research, we present interview-based case studies of three HEIs affected by war. The findings highlight adaptive responses such as agile HE governance, the use of cloud-based services, informal networks, international cooperation, and institutional transformation. Across all cases, crises emerge not only as threats but also as catalysts for innovation, restructuring, and the reassertion of institutional missions.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

As universities worldwide face unprecedented challenges and changes – from technological upheavals to shifting societal expectations and the role of internationalisation – it is important to critically evaluate the role, structure and purpose of higher education institutions. This issue of ZFHE presents contributions that address the evolving models of higher education institutions and the various ways in which they are changing and/or adapting to a rapidly changing environment. The concept of universities as social institutions has long been the subject of scholarly inquiry, from the classical theories of Humboldt and Newman, which emphasise the role of the university in promoting intellectual growth, to more modern perspectives that view universities as dynamic actors in global knowledge economies (Gumport, Slaughter, etc.). More recent theoretical frameworks have shifted the focus to the university's ability to adapt and transform in response to external pressures, including global competition and internationalisation, digitalisation, and changes in public policy and funding models. This issue of ZFHE examines these issues from a variety of perspectives.

Authors

Verena Régent WWW
WPZ Research
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3870-0112
Roi Avila WWW
WPZ Research
https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4948-2591
Limor Aharonson-Daniel WWW
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4585-6892
Dorit Alt WWW
Tel-Hai Academic College
Svitlana Tarasenko WWW
Sumy State University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4829-0559
Anna Vorontsova WWW
Sumy State University
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0603-3869

How to Cite

Régent, V., Avila, R., Aharonson-Daniel, L., Alt, D., Tarasenko, S., & Vorontsova, A. (2025). Continuity and Accessibility in Higher Education Amid Armed Conflict. Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung (Journal for Higher Education Development), 20(4), 153–173. https://doi.org/10.21240/zfhe/20-4/07

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