Things Will Never be the Same – or Will They? 

Preface by Emeritus Professor Greg Whateley

While many are longing for life to return to ‘normal’ after COVID-19, the higher education sector will be forced to adapt to a new way of doing business: with five key changes spearheading this new reality, writes Greg Whateley.

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Growing up in 1960s Melbourne, I was given my first real administration position at my primary school as ‘milk monitor’. It came with responsibility for ensuring the milk bottles were brought in from the sun in time for recess each day. 

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The position came complete with a badge of honour, rubber gloves and a face mask – after all, I was opening milk bottles and placing straws down the neck, so hygiene was paramount. (Ironically, in Melbourne today, I have to wear a mask to collect my milk in the morning – but this is an aside.)

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In those days, milk came in essentially one form – pasteurised, and later homogenised. By the 1980s, a milk revolution took place. The Big M arrived providing flavoured milk, followed closely by a range of milk types. Today, we have a huge range of milk products catering to every possible need.

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The slogan accompanying the Big M revolution was ‘things will never be the same now the Big M’s here’. And true enough, it has never been the same – arguably for the better.

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The same could be said of the ‘big C’ – COVID-19. Because higher education will never be the same.

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• Emeritus Professor Greg Whateley Things will never be the same – or will they?

• Professor Ashok Chanda Delivering Change When Things are Constantly Changing

• Associate Professor Tom O'Connor Things More Things Change

• Emeritus Professor Greg Whateley and Adjunct Professor Dimitri Kopanakis Using continuing professional development to get ahead of the game – or at least keep up with

• Associate Professor Cyril Jankoff How COVID has changed the way I do things

• Professor Ian Bofinger Is 2022 going to be another ‘Groundhog’ Year?

• Associate Professor Tom O'Connor Some Things Stay the Same

• Adjunct Professor Om Huvanandana The economy will never be the same again – or will it?

• Adjunct Professor Andy Wong Competing in the post COVID-19 world - Would it be different from where we were? Or just faster than before?

• Shawn Kok Up Against “Methodolatry”: An Autoethnography of the Pedagogical Issues in
  Teaching Pop Music to China Students in a Virtual Environment

• Eugene Seow Music on screen – reflections on livestreamed concerts

• Fabian Lim Musings on Music, Musicians, and the Metaverse