Management and academic anxiety in Ibero-American higher institutions students during COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused uncertainty and instability in the population regarding the capacityof institutions to manage and mitigate its impact. In such an emergency, it is possible to ask how highereducation institutions have dealt with this situation and what elements of institutional management have hadthe most significant influence in controlling stress and academic anxiety. The study aims to measure thelevel of academic anxiety among university students in Ibero-America since March 2020 due to the COVID-19pandemic. It also seeks to identify the associated variables; some linked to the digital sphere, which affect theperception of the evaluation made by these students of the institutional management carried out by highereducation institutions in Ibero-America. This article provides the quantitative research results that collecteddata using an anonymous online survey conducted from April 6 to April 24, 2020, in some higher educationuniversities in Ibero-America, including 523 students surveyed. The data analysis is based only on the surveyrespondents’ answers registered in institutions in six Ibero-American countries. The results identify psycho-social variables associated with the level of academic anxiety students perceive. They also point to the needfor higher education institutions in Ibero-America to review their management models so as to guarantee theireducational communities (e.g., students). This support consists of reinforcing soft skills that increase thecapacity to transform the educational model.