A newspaper on education, health and economy in face of COVID 19

The most recent publication of the magazine Un Periódico, (A Newspaper) of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia UNC (National University of Colombia) dedicates all of its pages to “Education, health and economy in face of COVID-19”. The first reflection corresponds to Dolly Montoya, rector of the UNC, whose introductory words invite to “wish for certainty” in face of the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, placing the University as an integrated community, capable of making decisions and “moving forward based on what is known and ready to learn from the unknown; as a living organism, it learns, evolves and transforms itself every day”.

The second reflection corresponds to the director of the International Institute for Higher Education of Latin America (IESALC), Francesc Pedró, whose text “Equidad, principio rector de la respuesta a la recuperación de la educación” (“Equity, guiding principle of the response to the recovery of education”), makes a complete evaluation of the crisis that affected higher education institutions in face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes the number of students and teachers affected, almost 24 million students and 1.4 million teachers – more than 98% of higher education’s population in the region – and highlights the primary danger of widening inequalities in learning, increasing the equity gap, especially in the case of the most disadvantaged students, who are unable to continue their studies; “For this reason, state responses must ensure continuity of training and guarantee equity.”

The chapter in question also addresses the changes that this crisis demands from the university community, as well as the IESALC recommendations to move forward and allow the fulfillment of “the ultimate mission of a university: to provide a unique vital learning to each student that will transform him/her as a person and citizen”.

The special issue includes an article from the Centro de Pensamiento en Políticas Públicas de Educación Superior (Center for Thought on Public Policies for Higher Education), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, entitled “Pospandemia en educación superior: retos, crisis y promesas” (“Post-pandemic in higher education: challenges, crises and promises”); one by Professor Diana del Pilar Colorado Acevedo, professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, “Medidas del Gobierno no protegen derechos laborales” (“Government measures do not protect labor rights”); and also, the international collaboration by Yanina Welp, associate researcher at the Albert Hirschman Center for Democracy at the University Institute for Higher International Studies, Geneva (Switzerland), “El desconcierto de las naciones” (“The disconcert of nations”).

This special edition of Un Periódico, has contents related to the economy, society and its components, culture, climate change and its impact on the pandemic, the evaluation of scenarios and challenges for medical training, as well as an interview by editor Diana Manrique Orta to Adela Cortina, philosopher and professor of Ethics at the Universidad de Valencia (Spain), who reflects on the effects and challenges of the pandemic on ethics, freedom, and culture.

A complete guide prepared by the Hospital Universitario Nacional (National University Hospital), in which studies, projections, consultancies, device designs and other complements on the contribution that the Hospital is providing to Colombians, through the National University of Colombia, complete this edition.

The invitation is to a reading dedicated and committed to studying the feasibility and capacities of the institutions to be able to assume the steps and stages that will be presented when the day after the coronavirus arrives.

Link to Un Periódico