Higher education has not stopped working despite COVID-19

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 10 (ACN) There is much to improve, advance and achieve, in training, organization and academics, but regardless of the rigors of the pandemic, Higher Education has not stopped, the University is alive and present, said Dr. José Ramón Saborido Loidi, minister of the sector.

The Minister described as an immense, extraordinary challenge for directors, professors, workers, the entire university community and, especially, young people, this year of the new coronavirus in Cuba, which is about to be completed.

It has been 12 months in which creativity, intelligence, discipline, the sense of responsibility, the capacity of dedication and the will to face and overcome any adversity, the greatest challenges and dangers have been put to the test, he emphasized.

Saborido Loidi emphasized that despite the complex epidemiological situation, it was possible to close the 2019-2020 academic year and to carry out the graduation exercises, the graduation ceremonies and the process of admission to the Education, with very positive results in the exams taken by the applicants.

No less challenging is the 2021 academic year, which has just begun, mostly online, in view of the strong resurgence of COVID-19 and the complex epidemiological situation faced by many territories, said the Minister.

He added that even though the pandemic has accelerated the process of computerization in academic processes and the very life of universities, and distance education, as a modality of study, has proven the effectiveness of the use of ITs for knowledge management, this does not imply at all that face-to-face attendance will be renounced.

Especially in the first years, but also during the whole career, the direct interaction with professors and fellow students, the participation in the activities of the brigade and in the life of the University, inside and outside its walls, means a lot for the integral formation to which we aspire for each graduate of our centers, he emphasized.

To this formative purpose also contributes a process such as the advanced placement, which allows the student, in addition to acquiring and developing skills of the chosen profession, to integrate, interrelate, make collective life and contribute their energies and talent to what will be their future workplace, he added.

Regarding virtuality, he also listed some advances in connectivity and access, an issue in which, however, not all students have equal opportunities, hence the individual diagnosis made by each university and the many variants conceived, so that no one can feel or be disadvantaged.

No student can feel unprotected, discriminated against or forgotten, each university has designed its strategy and dissimilar alternatives, and everyone can rest assured that, even if it is not possible to reach someone at this time, because of the distance, because of the conditions in which we find ourselves, they will receive personalized, differentiated attention, which will allow them to advance and not be left behind, he emphasized.