What COVID-19 does to our Universities

• Autore: Matthias Klatt
• Carica: University of Graz
• Pagine: 1-5

1George Steiner, Lessons of the Masters

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What COVID does to our Universies

No mechanical means, however expeditous,

no materialism, however triumphant,

can eradicate the day break we experience

when we have understood a Master.1

Across the globe, COVID-19 is affecting multiple dimensions of our lives, ranging from

the most existential aspects to the more mundane ones.In this brief article, I wish to

reflect upon the impact the pandemic has on our Universities.Let me stress from the

outset that I do not intend to downplay the terrible losses people all over the world have

suffered. Nor do I wish to discuss the proportionality of the protective measures imposed

by the governments, including those taken regarding research and teaching activities on

University campuses.What I do want to address, however, is that COVID-19 currently

functions as a fire accelerant, stimulating highly detrimental processes that flagrantly

run counter to the idea of a University per se.It is vital to prevent COVID-19 from

altering the University experience permanently.To accentuate my point, I will first lay

down what I mean by the “idea of a University per se”.Second,I will present a few

thoughts on why COVID-19 has negative effects on our Universities.

The idea of a “University per se” goes back, inter alia, to the classical

19th-century theories of Alexander von Humboldt and John Henry Newman.According

to these theories, Universities distinguish themselves from other kinds of professional

instruction and training, by providing a liberal education.Understood in this way,

education is a public good that pursues intellectual, cultural,and scientific aims.

Education prepares and enables students to develop genuine autonomy, by introducing

them to the open-ended search for deeper understanding and by stimulating them to

form their minds and attitudes in a protected space.Universities also enable advanced

scholarship.University scholars research fundamental questions, which do not

exclusively answer to the immediate needs of current practical problems.

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