Universities are the gate way of creative thinking, research and knowledge. They are the open spaces where ideas come in contact, where contemporary issues of the day are debated openly and discussed passionately. Universities are considered to have been regarded as key agent in processes of social change and development.
From last couple of months, the world has undergone drastic change in each and every sphere and it has affected University spaces as well. Academic life is not an exception to the changes the world is witnessing right now. Universities across the world are silent; they are just symbols without performing or contributing in the health, socio-economic and political crisis are lying dormant, struggling to perform with their minimum contributions in such a heath crisis.
Academicians, professors and researchers have a pivot role to play in providing alternatives to guide students in this period of crisis. Instead of adding to crisis, the most important function of universities is to develop mechanism that will help in crisis management.
In this complex and cataclysmic time, the professors should deliver their energies towards fundamental thinking of how to deal with this situation without any loss in academic-output instead of drawing salaries without contributing to academia. Professors along with administration should make favourable conditions that can be beneficial for both students and professors.
In this crisis, the universities thus have the role to develop alternative models to challenge the disorder created by virus. Every subject has something to contribute to overcome the destruction and havoc created by virus the present health crisis. Besides the innovations natural sciences have been coming up with biological sciences, social sciences and humanities have a key role in delivering in the process of restructuring the societies through knowledge.
The Coronavirus crisis comes with both challenges and opportunities. It is high time for universities to develop working-models with the aim to reduce academic crisis as colleges and universities are vulnerable to corona crises. Higher education in general, universities in particular have to restructure policies and plans so that in coming times such catastrophes will not hinder academic and research activities
Instead of closing universities, we should open the centres of highest learning by involving professors, scholars and other stakeholders to respond to this critical phase. After the outbreak of corona, there has been a growing attention to crisis, but unfortunately state machineries turn blind eye towards the crisis in higher education.
The steps that we have been taken to keep our education centres running are challenging to students. Paradoxically we don’t have skilled manpower in universities to cater the corona vulnerabilities. We were simply never prepared to deal with such a crisis and our structures were never trained to deal with it efficiently.
When universities are run by ineffective administrators, they are bound to suffer bigger losses with greater damage, and definitely our universities require more time to return to normal business. The present day health crisis by exposing the inherent vulnerabilities in our institutions have given us a chance to strengthen our structures such that we can prepare our spaces to deal with any large crisis of this kind in the future without any loss and break in education and knowledge output.
Corona Crises are more multifaceted and complex. To combat corona crisis organizations like universities should train students, scholars and staff to handle the crisis instead of shutting down campus hereon. To avoid academic loss, universities should develop holistic, strategic, and highly ‘analytic’ approach to bring back universities on track without fear of corona virus.
What we can learn from this shock is that we cannot allow any damage of the same kind to weaken our educational institutions especially universities. Ain’t times like corona equally challenging for research and innovation? Instead of locking our labs up and discouraging researchers, we need to develop models that can use this brain-power we have and create safe spaces for them where they can produce and deal with challenging times such as these.
But what we see is that three months into the crisis-lockdown after the outbreak of virus, Universities are yet to provide preparedness for academics and research. University authorities are yet to preparing critical precautionary measures with regard to students, locking down the campus and suspending classes even further. The need to be cautious is well appreciated, but if the world is being asked to live responsibly with corona, I suggest that we as think-tanks, can sure structure and model our campuses that will not hamper our outputs anymore. This is the time to plan and act, not procrastinate lockdown and other stringent measures as further.
Making sense of corona crisis, as discussed above poses difficult challenges in higher education settings. In order to make sense out of present pandemic, universities should not only develop the picture of what is happening but must develop action action-oriented understanding of the implications of the situation instead of locking down libraries and laboratories
I think the first and foremost function of universities in this pandemic is to now immediately restore functioning in a well equipped and controlled manner actual responses to this critical situation. Therefore present situation demands Universities’ role to play in assuring the effective learning and teaching. Ultimately, it is university authorities who are responsible for university preparedness; the buck stops with them and they must be ready at all times to rise to the occasion.
But at administrative level, universities lack the capabilities to design truly effective models exercises to develop the skills necessary for crisis management. There are no ‘silver bullets’, nor simple recipes or guarantees when it comes to the extremely challenging task of guiding an institution as complex and vulnerable as a university through a crisis.
We can’t deny the fact that universities across the world have been spaces that rise to this social and political crisis for facilitating political movements, but corona virus exposed how universities miserably failed in the time of crisis. Universities did not stay immune to corona virus. But nothing prepared our universities for the present health scare. From last couple of months, the world has watched in horror as the virus is pushing whole humanity into fear-psychosis. Corona delayed the start of the educational process and interrupted the routine university functions including teaching and learning and research activities. More than six months into the lockdown, the universities need to reboot and restructure immediately and start modelling in way which will allow us to carry on with academics and research in these times.
Public higher education institutions, namely universities, are facing serious challenges amidst corona crisis because of lack of administrative, academic and financial autonomy; and heightened dependence of universities on the state. Usually it is found that universities have to rely on or wait for directions from the state when a viable decision needs to be implemented. Such dependence makes it problematic for universities to pull resources when necessary, thus delaying the response to such a problem.
Additionally, public universities usually operate with tight physical and human resources, further hampering hindering crisis preparedness and response. Higher education institutions should learn from record the current experience of crisis, and to assess the damage and extract useful strategies to learn how to prevent future crises. Instead of making universities depended, we should use our collective expertise to tackle the crisis hereon Coronavirus pandemic and destructions created by virus
Corona virus crisis confronts university, and indeed places universities at crossroads. The universities which are considered as highest seat of learning failed to answer the strong questions that focus on the current COVID crisis.
Besides other primary functions, universities should focus on the problems connected to wider socio-economic and political phenomena. Primary function of Universities is not only teaching , but it is also the responsibility of universities to map, make sense of, and advance an agenda that seeks to change the current state of affairs. In this present crisis universities must provide new ways of thinking to fight against such pandemics.
What might be the indicators that would provide alternate ways of handling, operating and fighting covid pandemic? As we know the present situation is challenging and critical one. Keeping in view the current environment, we should reconstruct the missions of our universities that enable us to empower with the new knowledge and skills that meet the crisis by raising public awareness. After the outbreak of corona virus, another role that universities may play is in the building-resilience by creating network of new institutions in the form of civil societies, in developing preparedness and in training and socializing people of new social era the post corona-world.
Author is senior researcher at Dept. of Sociology, university of Kashmir