Purpose

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions around the world are facing unprecedented challenges in the year 2020; many schools have closed their campuses and suspended teaching and learning activities, while others have switched to distance learning to keep learning going. The purpose of this study is to explore the learning problems faced by higher education worldwide in the faceof COVID-19, as well as NTNU's experiences with and reflections onthe implementation of whole-campus distance learning.

Design/methodology/approach

This study first collects survey reports from UNESCO (2020), the International Association of Universities (IAU), UNESCO-IESALC,and other international organizations to understand the current situation of international higher education during the pandemic. Second, this study designed a questionnaire to investigate the responses of students and teachers to distance learning at NTNU.

Findings/results

The study found that students had the highest percentage of Internet access at home during the pandemic, were supportive of the school's adoption of distance learning, and believed they had learned new learning technologies. Other than this, the things that they felt most needed improvement were the excessive number of video platforms used by teachers, internet speeds, and teachers’ pedagogical methods. In the teacher survey, most of the teachers felt that they had mastered distance teaching after this challenge, but that they would focus on physical teaching in the future.

Originality/value

Since NTNU was the only university in Taiwan that closed its classrooms for a short period of time and taught by distance learning for three weeks during the pandemic crisis in the second semester of the 2020 academic year, with the entire school moving to distance learning for three weeks, the NTNU case is a valuable reference for the future development of higher education in Taiwan and pandemic responses.

Implications for Policy/Practice

While most countries around the world have already switched to strict, complete digital learning due to the severity of the pandemic, Taiwan has not yet fully implemented distance learning due to the relatively mild pandemic, and thus may become the country with the least university digital capacity in the world. Unable to face the digital competition in higher education and the possibility of a renewed pandemic that could strike at any time, it is recommended that universities and education authorities plan more proactively for digital programs in higher education.