Quo vadis higher education? Post-pandemic success digital competencies of the higher educators – a Hungarian university case and actions

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show the necessary competence sets for Higher Education (HE) lecturers in the framework of the COVID and post-COVID. A COVID-situated competence survey was carried out among university lecturers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA, CFA) were applied to show the significant digital education competence factors. The representative online survey of 322 respondents shows that three big competence sets can be identified: Awareness, Professional, and Digital. Those having higher scores in Professional competencies foresee more digital programs and communications in the future, and not only the digital competencies but also the professional ones should be developed to meet the requirements of the digital education transformation process. The findings emphasize that the forced and drastic changes in the application of digital education to the intensification of COVID-19 should become sustainable and find its proper place and role in the future HE. The structured and closely managed use of the results was followed by a set of digital and professional competence development initiatives carried out within the framework of the Digital Education and Learning Support Centre, founded in 2020 at the University of Pécs.