Sciences Po Reims: the challenges of handling COVID-19
Written by Jasper Törner
Since COVID-19 reached France at the beginning of March 2020, the “Corona crisis” has determined our everyday life, personally and professionally. Students have been affected in many ways with universities trying to adapt. At the Sciences Po Reims Campus, measures have been taken to ensure safety for students and staff.
Health measurements were undertaken by the Campus
The greatest challenge for Sciences Po during the coronavirus pandemic is to protect people’s health on campus. Employees can all work from home. Those who work on campus are provided with free washable masks and disinfectant wipes. The cleaning staff disinfects door handles and light switches three times a day. However, regular COVID-19 tests were not conducted because, according to Campus Director Tillman Turpin, there were laws preventing Sciences Po to test their employees until recently. The campus did facilitate priority testing for staff though, in centres in Reims, asking them to go whenever they felt necessary. Turpin claims no employees have been infected with COVID-19 while on Campus, however, during the one big scale testing of last semester — September 16th 2020, nearly 25% of tested students were positive. To blame this solely on students’ behaviour outside of Campus may be a far stretch. The Campus started to offer onsite antigenic testing for students and staff in February 2021. Access is momentarily restricted to people who have had contact with Covid patients, but free tests are easily available around Reims.
Mental health has become more of an issue over the past year. Three psychologists are available for the 1600 students[1] and staff can consult an outside psychologist for free, which is easier than talking to one of the psychologists on staff who are also colleagues. There is also an on-campus GP with whom staff and students can consult with.
Establishing guidelines and adapting to online learning
When the covid situation began to escalate, Sciences Po administration took a rapid approach on March 15th, 2020, closing the university for a week to establish guidelines and adapt to online learning: Zoom licenses were bought for staff, teachers, and students to continue classes from home. Over the summer, over 150.000€ were spent to change computers, invest in Logitech bars and cameras. 34 out of the 41 classrooms were equipped. So far only 20% of students on campus are benefitting from this investment, due to the distancing rules set in place by the French government.
While staff are provided with new equipment, hired teachers are not. They are expected to have functioning computers, microphones, and stable internet connections —with no control. Teachers are welcome to use one of the classrooms on campus, however, those who do not live close to Reims can’t easily take up on it. Having the necessary tools is one thing, knowing how to use them is another. The Campus relies on colleagues from Paris who set up online tutorials on how to work with Zoom, which are continuously updated and available to all staff and teachers — according to Matthew Baker, the exchange and EURAF[2] coordinator. He is responsible for hiring the teachers in these programs and coordinating their work. If teachers struggle with Zoom, they can reach out to him or the hotlines for tech support from Paris. Sciences Po students nonetheless have exhilarating tales of teachers who struggled with online teaching.
The financial situation in midst of Covid-19
Along with these significant expenses, the social fund to support students in difficult situations had to be increased — its entire yearly budget was spent in just three months in 2020. But there have also been significant savings: fewer travel expenses for staff and teachers, less operational costs in the university buildings, for water, and electricity, particularly during the complete lockdown. Employees have received no hazard pay or bonus checks during the pandemic. While many businesses have had to let go employees, none have had to leave Sciences Po so far, and there have been no pay reductions. Campus Director Tilman Turpin is not too concerned for the time being, since enrollment rates — the main source of income — have remained steady.
According to Turpin, the Campus doesn’t break even, but the situation is manageable overall, particularly if the university doesn’t have to invest much more than it already has in teaching equipment.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved, so has the Universities' approach to handling it. As of now, their efforts have secured their continuous achievement of remaining partly opened while providing a safe way for staff and students to work and study.
[1] In comparison, the Free University of Berlin has 6 psychologists for 38.000 students while the University of Bordeaux has 4 psychologists working for them while having over 50.000 students.
[2] EURAF is the Europe-Africa programme of Sciences Po, created in 2011. It is a bilingual French-English program, with nearly half of international students, which provides fundamentals of Sciences Po (Micro and Macroeconomics, Law, Sociology and History) with a specific focus on the African continent and its relations with Europe.
Commentaires