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To overcome the spread of the noble coronavirus, the lockdown was imposed on March 25, 2020 by the Government of India which adversely affected the education system in the country and changed the traditional classroom teaching to online teaching. This paper aims to explore the factors encouraging university teachers to use and adopt e-learning systems during the COVID-19 pandemic and to find out the major challenges faced by them in adopting e-learning systems in Odisha, an Indian State.

The population of this study was teachers of different universities in Odisha, India. An online questionnaire was administered to collect data from the teachers of the state who were involved in the e-learning system for taking their online classes during the COVID-19 situation. During the study 610 valid responses were processed for data analysis. The results of the analysis were presented through factor analysis, t-test and structural equation model.

The findings revealed three major factors as user-friendly, convenient and performance encouraged teachers to use and adopt e-learning systems. The results also identified major challenges such as accessibility to the internet, information and communication technologies literacy and skills and technological support, faced by university teachers in adopting e-learning systems.

The findings of the study have suggested that the university authorities can develop an effective e-learning system to support their teachers for the continuance of education and learning opportunities. The insights of this study can help the regulatory authorities of higher education to redesign policy and infrastructure for promoting effective e-learning systems.

Many studies have been conducted in relation to e-learning during COVID-19. However, this is a unique study that identifies supporting factors and addresses the challenges faced by university teachers in adopting an e-learning system.

In light of growing concerns related to the psychological vulnerability during the pandemic, this study aims to examine the impact of fear or trauma of COVID-19 on stress, anxiety and depression among management students. Additionally, the study also explores the possible strategies adopted by professional students to cope with the pandemic situation.

With an approach to establish a probable concrete relationship between fear with the level of stress, anxiety and depression, the data for the study was collected from 1,408 management students through a structured questionnaire designed in Google Form and administered through WhatsApp. The survey was carried out in the month of July and August 2020 during the lockdown period. Correlation and structural equation modeling have been used to examine the relationship among the test attributes.

The results from the study discovered that “fear of COVID-19” has a significant and considerable impact on the increased level of anxiety and stress among the professional students, but the observations did not demonstrate a significant influence of the “fear” on “depression.” The responses reveal that students have developed anxiety and felt stressed mostly due to uncertainty in the upcoming academic plans, disturbances in their regular academic routines and concerns about their future careers. Further, the findings have portrayed that students have adopted both protective and avoidance coping strategies to overcome the adverse consequences of the pandemic.

The study gives an insight on the psychological vulnerability of the management students and their capability to overcome such sudden disruptions due to pandemics. This research could thus, serve as a reference to the policymakers, universities and institutions while planning out programs and schemes, which would encourage the aspiring managers to overcome the crisis and prepare themselves to befit the vibrant corporate world.

Several studies exist on the impact of the pandemic on undergraduate students in different universities. However, there are a dearth of literature, which reflects the psychological vulnerability of professional graduates especially management students who are on the verge of starting their professional career.