Last year we started Studies with a special issue on the impact of the pandemic on our lives, professionally and personally. It was a good reflection at the time but could not predict what was to come. 2021 without a doubt has thrown another curve ball. When looked at from a public policy perspective, there can be little doubt of massive and impactful policy failure. Across our countries preciously little has been learned from the previous year. This is telling in itself. As the editorial team at Studies has seen, our higher education world has discovered on-line learning. Many of the articles submitted reflected this shift in educational practices. Yet few, unfortunately, grounded these experiences in the long tradition of on-line education existing in our field. As such, policy deficiency in a way was reproduced in what we as a team received in submissions.
Leaving this observation aside, we have seen Studies continue to rise as a leading journal in our field. For this, we have to pay tribute to the past editorial team led by Prof Lynn Meek, as well as the current team that over the past years have worked hard and with serious dedication to keep this upward trend going. The support from both SRHE and Taylor & Francis has been invaluable and as a team we acknowledge this with respect and gratitude.
Success also comes at a price. When we started as the new editorial team, we knew it would be hard work. But we could not have predicted the massive amount of work it takes to deal with a very significant rise in submissions whilst maintaining editorial integrity and not overloading the peer review system that underpins the quality of our journal. Reflecting on this at the end of last year, I came to the conclusion that being editor-in-chief of Studies was too big a call given both my professional and particularly personal commitments. Hence with regret I handed in my resignation, effective from May this year. So this is my last editorial.
I thank you all for your support of Studies over the past year. I thank my editorial team for being there through what at times has been a bit of a bumpy ride under unprecedented circumstances, obviously outside of our control. SRHE, under the strong leadership of Helen Perkins, will initiate the process to appoint a new editor-in-chief. No doubt this will further strengthen the existing team and the excellent reputation of the journal.
My best wishes to you all,
Correction Statement
This editorial has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the editorial.