The impact of COVID-19 on students’ academic performance: The case of the university of Ghana business school

Abstract

The unruly consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak have hamstrung higher education institutions. This study aims to investigate the perceived impact of COVID-19 on student learning and academic performance through a qualitative approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 30 purposively chosen informants were used. The results indicated that 70% of students perceive a paradigm shift in their learning experience before and after COVID-19. It was discovered that their sociodemographic characteristics influenced 60% of students, and 57% were influenced by their parent’s socioeconomic status, which influenced their academic achievements during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings revealed that 63% of students had faced numerous challenges during the COVID-19 online learning, affecting their academic performance. The study provides insight into the student academic performance during the covid-19 online education in the Ghanaian context. The study discusses the implications of the findings on higher institutions, government, and parents’ household income and recommendations for future research. Higher education institutions, governments, and parents must purchase licensed e-learning tools and provide students and professors with digital skills training to enhance faculty teaching, student learning, and academic performance.

Keywords:

• Higher education
• academic performance
• face-to-face learning
• online learning
• student experience

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Michael Agyemang Adarkwah (Ph.D.), Southwest University, China, for his immense support and all the participants who devoted their time and energy to participating in the experiment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data material

Due to anonymity concerns, the data sets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Statements and declarations funding

This study did not receive any external financial support.

Declarations competing for interests

The author declares that he has no competing interests concerning the research.

Additional information

Funding

The author received no direct funding for this research.