Daily Times

COVID-19 continues to spread across the world with a trajectory that is difficult to predict. The health, humanitarian and socio-economic policies that we implement will determine how quickly and strongly we recover. It has revealed a significant impact on different sectors of life including economy, health, business, agriculture and education, etc. In particular, higher education is significantly affected during this COVID war. Universities are the places where students live and study close to each other. Therefore, the foundations of the university ecosystem have been impacted significantly by the rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak; creating uncertainty regarding the implications for higher education throughout the globe. According to the New York Times, more than 1.5 billion students and youth across the planet are affected by school and university closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Although the class closures and cancellations may be temporary, it’s hard to foresee whether the novel coronavirus will result in long-term disruption to the higher education system.

The universities’ administrations have been forced to cancel classes and close the doors to campuses across the world in response to the growing coronavirus outbreak. Globally, the most effective tool in keeping student retention and maintaining access to learning has been online courses. Therefore, Pakistani universities, following a global response, have switched classes to online learning. Although some universities may already have strong online systems while smaller universities may struggle under the weight of the demand, there are calls for university course creators and demonstrators to work closely with their IT departments to ensure their programs can be supported online. Secondly, the loss, only a part of which might be recouped through online courses, would be catastrophic. Merely conducting online classes could hamper the education efficiency and moving all programs online may prove challenging, that calls for a hybrid kind of higher education learning environment.

The hybrid system could be the better solution to smartly reopen the universities in coming future. However, with this online learning and partial opening process as the way to go, universities should also ensure that students and staff are protected while on campus. Although COVID-19 is a high risk for those over 60, traditional-aged university students face relatively low risk from the disease. However, in recent weeks, we have seen just how quickly the novel coronavirus can spread in areas with a high concentration of people and university campuses are no exception from this pandemic. So, the reopening of campuses is, unfortunately, not all doom and gloom. Students and professors are hunkered down inside, teaching and learning online. Across the country, university campuses have become ghost towns. Additionally, the higher education sector in Pakistan has withstood turbulent economic times in the near past, and it will withstand them again. Even though the economic situation of universities is already compromised, the universities must be able to safely handle the possibility of infection on campus while maintaining the continuity of their core academic functions. The university administrations should undertake simple measures to prevent the spread of the disease on their campuses. This may include instructing students on the appropriate protocols for handwashing, covering sneezes and coughs with their elbows, and self-isolating if they are experiencing flu or cold-like symptoms. Secondly, universities, yet to implement changes to campuses in response to the novel coronavirus, should take cues from others who have already taken action around the globe. This analysis could help the administrations to understand what has worked, what hasn’t worked and how to tackle the challenges they may face.

This hybrid education system with preventive action plans will still benefit the students from all that makes in-person education so valuable

In my opinion, the higher education Institutions should now develop public health plans that are built on three basic elements of controlling the spread of infection–test, trace and separate– to start the reopening of university campuses in the fall. These plans must be based on the reality that there will be upticks or resurgences in infection until a vaccine is developed, even after we succeed in flattening the curve. We can’t simply send students home and shift to remote learning every time this happens. Firstly, the testing could be an absolute prerequisite in campuses. All campuses must be able to conduct rapid testing for the coronavirus for all students when they first arrive on campus and at regular intervals throughout the year. Testing only those with symptoms will not be sufficient. We now know that many people who have the disease are asymptomatic. Therefore, regular testing is the only way to prevent the disease from spreading silently through hostels and classrooms. Secondly, following testing, the tracing of suspect cases could be done by the administration. As some of the international and national organisations are also working to adopt mobile apps created by private companies to trace the spread of disease, and universities can play a role by collaborating with these public health departments and rolling out tracing technology on their campuses. However, testing and tracing will be useful only if students who are ill or who have been exposed to the virus can be separated from others. Setting aside appropriate spaces for isolation and quarantine may be costly, but necessary. It will also be necessary to ensure that students abide by the rigorous requirements of isolation and quarantine. Our students will have to understand that until a vaccine is developed, campus life will be different. Students and employees may have to wear masks on campus. Large lecture classes may remain online even after campuses open.

This hybrid education system with preventive action plans will still benefit the students from all that makes in-person education so valuable. The fierce intellectual debates that just aren’t the same on Zoom, the research opportunities in university laboratories and libraries and the personal interactions among students with different perspectives and life experiences, could gear up the future higher education more efficiently. Finally, with the spread of the disease expected to worsen before it gets better, administrations should take quick action to safeguard their campuses and students before reopening campuses. I am cautiously optimistic that campuses can reopen in the fall, but only if careful planning is done now. Fortunately, evidence-based public health protocols for the control of infectious disease have been known for decades. They can be applied to university campuses provided the right resources are in place and administrators are willing to make bold changes to how they manage their campuses. Although, taking these necessary steps will be difficult and costly, and it will force institutions to innovate as we have never done before and I am confident that our universities are up to this challenge. We now have to marshal the resources and expertise to make it possible to reopen our campuses, safely, as soon as possible. Our students and our local economies depend on it.

The writer is an associate professor of Food Science and Nutrition at Government College University, Faisalabad. He can be reached at umair.arshad@gcuf.edu.pk.