The COVID-19 pandemic has created cause for rapid innovation in, reimagining of, and pivoting of higher education institutions. Prior to 2020, the global higher education sector began to radically focus their efforts on creating sustainable institutions, and incorporated the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The novel coronavirus pandemic may have changed that. This systematic review examines eight manuscripts, identified through a systematic search strategy on sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic across 2020–2021. Interestingly, the low volume of manuscripts identified highlights potential learning and teaching risks, as priorities may have shifted during rapid digitalization and emergency remote teaching practices. These manuscripts focused on Goal 4, inclusive and equitable quality education (50%); Goal 8, decent work and economic growth; Goal 9, industry, innovation, and infrastructure (37.5%); and goal enabling through integrating and embedding sustainability into the curriculum (12.5%). The implications of this systematic review highlight a need to rebuild efforts to focus on the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly considering the evolving higher education landscape during COVID-19. While there were still considerable volumes of manuscripts on higher education and sustainability during 2020–2021, the lack of contextualization to current higher education conditions should be of concern for sustainability scholars. This systematic review creates a critical foundation for accelerating our understanding of achieving SDGs in higher education during and beyond the pandemic.

The study’s main purpose was to discover the important factors that impact university students’ online learning and academic performance during the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as their usage of social media throughout the pandemic. Constructivism theory was used and developed with constructs mostly linked to leveraging social media for collaborative learning and student interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, given the context-dependent nature of online learning during the epidemic. During the COVID-19 epidemic, additional components such as collaborative learning, student participation, and online learning were implemented. The enlarged model, which assesses students’ happiness and academic performance during the COVID-19 epidemic in connection to social media use, was validated using empirical data collected via an online survey questionnaire from 480 Saudi Arabian higher education students. AMOS-SEM was used to analyze the model’s various assumptions (Analysis of Moment Structures-Structural Equation Modeling). The findings revealed that (1) using social media for collaborative learning and students’ engagement has a direct positive impact on students’ interactivity with peers and teachers; (2) students’ interactivity with peers and teachers has a direct positive impact on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic; (3) online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic mediates the relationship between students’ interactivity and satisfaction; (4) online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic mediates the relationship between students’ interactivity and satisfaction. Students, higher education institutions, and educational technology application suppliers would benefit greatly from the conclusions of this study, both theoretically and practically.