Adaptation Strategies in Higher Education A Case of a Faculty Mentoring Network

Abstract

The study presents a complex tool for adapting to the changed higher education conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary, going beyond traditional crisis and change management solutions, pedagogical considerations and technology support for remote education. A mentoring network set up within an exceptionally tight deadline, yet involving the entire teaching staff, and operating on the principles of peer-to-peer, reverse and complementary mentoring relationships that are based solely on competence and skills. The study presents the background of the introduction of the system, the implementation process and the evaluation of the network. To explore the effectiveness and to determine future amendments and development directions, the (preliminary) results of the implemented pilot research and the comprehensive research project that is currently in progress are also presented. The main lesson of this initial phase is that the non-traditional, non-hierarchical organizational structure, the skills and discipline-based organizational principles enhanced the culture of trust and collegiality between formerly hierarchical (e.g. supervisor-supervised) relationships, which has expanded the stimulating reflective space for learning (Higgins and Kram, 2007) and paved the way for the reorganization and transformation of knowledge-sharing processes embedded in the organization. This also provides an opportunity for higher education (or the specific institution) to set a broader range of institutional development goals for the transition to remote education, for example, by making the mentoring network one of the pillars of the quality management system.