Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19
Even as the pandemic rages on across the globe, the notion of shutting down higher education has never been an option; instead, finding ways to circumvent it has led to a greater reliance on online technology delivery of courses and programs. Although this is not meant as a complete substitute, crit...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2021
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/94431/ |
| _version_ | 1848861995134091264 |
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| author | Alam, Gazi Mahabubul Asimiran, Soaib |
| author_facet | Alam, Gazi Mahabubul Asimiran, Soaib |
| author_sort | Alam, Gazi Mahabubul |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Even as the pandemic rages on across the globe, the notion of shutting down higher education has never been an option; instead, finding ways to circumvent it has led to a greater reliance on online technology delivery of courses and programs. Although this is not meant as a complete substitute, critics argue that online education has widened the ‘diploma disease’ crisis. They argued that this would lead to serious long-term problems which may become irreversible. This comparative study was conducted using an ‘empirical survey’ with 120 students from each group (before and during COVID-19, giving a total of 240 samples/students) to conduct an in-depth study of the academic and job-ready performance of graduates. Findings show that pre-pandemic students did poorly academically compared to during-pandemic counterparts. On the other hand, pre-pandemic graduates achieved better job-readiness scores which included both aptitude and practicum. Moreover, both groups achieved well in terms of academic performance compared to their job-readiness scores. This leads to the question: is it the role of HE to value the concept of sustainable production or to produce certificates/qualifications? Apparently, the HE system has used COVID-19 as an excuse to extend the “diploma disease crisis”, a situation that must be addressed by devising a proper policy framework. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:09:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-94431 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:09:59Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-944312023-03-29T08:22:34Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/94431/ Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19 Alam, Gazi Mahabubul Asimiran, Soaib Even as the pandemic rages on across the globe, the notion of shutting down higher education has never been an option; instead, finding ways to circumvent it has led to a greater reliance on online technology delivery of courses and programs. Although this is not meant as a complete substitute, critics argue that online education has widened the ‘diploma disease’ crisis. They argued that this would lead to serious long-term problems which may become irreversible. This comparative study was conducted using an ‘empirical survey’ with 120 students from each group (before and during COVID-19, giving a total of 240 samples/students) to conduct an in-depth study of the academic and job-ready performance of graduates. Findings show that pre-pandemic students did poorly academically compared to during-pandemic counterparts. On the other hand, pre-pandemic graduates achieved better job-readiness scores which included both aptitude and practicum. Moreover, both groups achieved well in terms of academic performance compared to their job-readiness scores. This leads to the question: is it the role of HE to value the concept of sustainable production or to produce certificates/qualifications? Apparently, the HE system has used COVID-19 as an excuse to extend the “diploma disease crisis”, a situation that must be addressed by devising a proper policy framework. Elsevier 2021-07-19 Article PeerReviewed Alam, Gazi Mahabubul and Asimiran, Soaib (2021) Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 172. art. no. 121034. pp. 1-11. ISSN 0040-1625 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162521004662 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121034 |
| spellingShingle | Alam, Gazi Mahabubul Asimiran, Soaib Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19 |
| title | Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19 |
| title_full | Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19 |
| title_short | Online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during COVID-19 |
| title_sort | online technology: sustainable higher education or diploma disease for emerging society during emergency—comparison between pre and during covid-19 |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/94431/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/94431/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/94431/ |