1. Introduction

In this competitive world, universities have become more inclined towards marketisation and there are the similar expectation from them to transform into more sustainable institutions. These are expected to be change-agents pushing forward the sustainable development movement. Shapiro (2009) has claimed that universities have two roles, i.e. to serve the existing society and to challenge society for shaping a better future. With the existing planetary crisis and sustainable development movement, there are new demands over higher education. The current pandemic of COVID-19 and sustainable development goals by the United Nations in 2030 has called for a more proactive and paramount role of universities to address (UNESCO, 2020). This is the right time to redefine social contract which exists between society and higher education and it was vaguely defined among logics of either social or industry institution. The current sustainable development movement calls for universities to perform a more proactive role for being more ‘responsible institutions’ (Sady ?ak & Rzepka, 2019). The prevalent discussion about sustainable development and societal change caused by pandemic has relevance for higher education as well and it calls for the same responsible initiatives from universities to secure a better and sustainable future. There is a special strategic role of the university as educators and producers of future generations, hence this research will be conducted to explore the future role of universities to examine how universities can become more responsible.

This research will be aiming to explore the overall alternative university futures in responses to such pandemics in the future where it will be analysed how universities are influenced and how they can perform their role at the societal level to cope up with this challenge. This is the right time to explore such educational solutions which are aimed at the unexpected events and their related implications resolution (Viner et al. 2020). The comprehensive nature of such education systems needs to address the relative pandemic strain situations and their subsequent effects along with related risks. The topic of the research, in this regard, has not only been significantly formed around the contemporary issues regarding university systems, but the practical implications of long-term sustainability and related building and development of alternative university futures have been kept in consideration within the given research too. The meaningful contributions of research can add to the alternative university futures, literature regarding university and higher education, practical sustainability issues considerations within the universities (Teras et al. 2020), and other such are practically applicable as well as theoretical ways. This research will enable stakeholders to get integrative insights about the role of universities in a sustainable future.

1.1. Research Aim

The broad aim of the current research is to explore, analyse and evaluate the relative implications of building alternative university futures where universities can perform a more responsible role. The primary focus of the research has been posted around the analysis of current challenges related to pandemic and sustainability. It will intend to conceptualise the new role of universities in managing the pandemic at a wider level. The research will address the sustainability issues that are deemed critical for universities effectively and practically applying solutions to mitigate such issues.

1.2. Research Questions

The research aims to answer the following questions in line with the defined research problems and associated aims of the research:

• What has been the influence of COVID-19 on higher education and general university education within the UK?
• What considerations need to be critically considered within the development of alternative university futures in the light of impacts of COVID-19 on Universities and higher education?
• What are the primary and most critical sustainability issues for UK universities to address the identified sustainability issues comprehensively?
• How can universities become more responsible institutions for managing the after-effects of COVID-19 in society, at the global level?

2. Background and Originality

According to Wright (2010), the conceptualisation of sustainability issues within the universities is one of the pertinent issues as previously these universities are considered excluded for their role in sustainable development, but now the reality has changed. In the previous years and recent times, the focus on sustainability issues and related applications within the universities of the UK has been a fashion (Lozano and Young, 2013) but now there is a