IMPACT OF COVID-19 OUTBREAK ON HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS: INSIGHTS FROM ODISHA

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is multi-sectoral, almost all the sectors have been impacted by its negative effect. Higher Education is one of these sectors which is crucially affected by its damaging effect. Due to unfavourable situations endorsed by social-distancing measures, direct interaction between students and teachers has been disturbed, consequently, it has an undesirable impact on Higher Education and its students. In this study, our focus is to evaluate the impact of social distancing measures on higher education in Odisha and particularly on students. For the study, we employed a mixed-method explanatory concurrent design. The data has been gathered from higher education (bachelor’s degree) students of selected colleges in Odisha. The selected disciplines have been categorized into Science and Arts for finding the better impact of social distancing measures. We used semi-structured questionnaires for the data collection, and we collected data through online tools i.e., Google forms. Simultaneously, qualitative data have been analysed manually and thematic analysis have been used as tool. The findings of the study suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic affects students of higher education negatively, however some of the positively aspect also found. The study suggests a road map for better management of higher education in Odisha.