Based on twenty case studies of universities worldwide and on a survey administered to leaders
in 101 universities this open access book shows that amidst the significant challenges caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic universities found ways to engage with schools to support them in
sustaining educational opportunity. In doing so they generated considerable innovation which
reinforced the integration of the research and outreach functions of the university. The
evidence suggests that universities are indeed open systems in interaction with their
environment able to discover changes that can influence them and to change in response to
those changes. They are also able in the success of their efforts to mitigate the educational
impact of the pandemic to create better futures as the result of the innovations they can
generate. This challenges the view of universities as ivory towers being isolated from the
surrounding environment and detached from local problems. As they reached out to schools
universities not only generated clear and valuable innovations to sustain educational
opportunity and to improve it this process also contributed to transform internal university
processes in ways that enhanced their own ability to deliver on the third mission of outreach.
