National COE, CES and Senescyt must speak.
With the vaccination of their teachers and students advanced, the universities of Guayaquil are already making plans to soon return to the presence with a full capacity. Some have schedules to fully return between January and May 2022.
Several establishments are waiting for the national Emergency Operations Committee (COE) and the Higher Education Council to approve the capacity plans to return to face-to-face classes.
Joaquín Hernández, rector of the Espiritu Santo University of Specialties (UEES), indicated that they have asked Senescyt to return in January with 100% of the students.
The rector said that teachers, students, collaborators and even parents are fully vaccinated.
“We ask for a 100% return. We believe that we must return to normality. We cannot maintain this dichotomy that people fill shopping centers, go to parties, travel and it turns out that universities cannot have normal classes, “he said.
He stressed that the educational infrastructure is in good condition so that students return without news.
20 facts you should know about the progressive and mandatory return to face-to-face classes in Ecuador from November 22
Francisco Morán Peña, rector of the University of Guayaquil, confirmed that the start of the new cycle II 2021-2022 is scheduled for next Monday, November 29, via online, more than 60,000 students they are projected to enroll.
He expressed that, if the cantonal and national COE authorities authorize this institution to progressively return to face-to-face classes, they will do so in January with the faculties of Veterinary and Zootechnics, Dentistry, Medical Sciences, Physical Education, Chemical Engineering, Architecture and Facso, which require presence for their practices. The remaining ten will be progressively integrated.
Morán added that 97% of teachers and 96% of students are already vaccinated, so the herd immunity has been achieved in the institution, this process guarantees the return of all to the university.
Gilda Alcívar, rector of the Ecotec University, said that this university was a pioneer on the Coast in issues of return to presence, as they asked to return since October 2020.
He specified that they had to paralyze their activities due to the state of emergency that was issued between the end of December and March; then they resumed face-to-face classes in April and up to the present day.
In Ecuador, the return to face-to-face classes will begin with a group of 402,309 15 and 17-year-old students
“We have progressively increased the percentage of capacity: we started with 30%, now we are at 50%, and the latest resolution that the Higher Education Council has given already allows us to have 75% capacity,” explained Alcívar.
For this entity, the ideal date to normalize the activities would be in May next year, since its regular semesters begin on that date. “What we need is now formally that the Senescyt and the Council of Higher Education (CES) increase from 75% to 100%, and with that we would already be in full presence,” explained the rector of Ecotec.
In addition, he specified that teachers are vaccinated 100%, as are all university personnel; and students, by 95%.
“We have a face-to-face modality and we will have an offer online that corresponds to another academic proposal ”, he said.
The academic coordinator of the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana de Guayaquil, Jaime Zapata, said that for the moment the hybrid session is maintained, which includes face-to-face and virtual subjects. Of the 7,200 students who have registered in this academic period that began on November 4, about 1,500 chose to attend in person. He added that they are waiting for what the authorities decide to return to classes as they were before, “it is always good to have all the students here.”
He also commented that the infrastructure is in optimal condition. Almost all teachers are vaccinated, while administrative and service personnel were inoculated 100% and students, 75%.
In the case of the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (Espol) there is a progressive return schedule that began in October 2021, in the current academic period. During this, the non-compulsory presence for the development of practical content in all undergraduate and graduate subjects has been retaken, that is, activities carried out in laboratories, trips to the field or visits.
There is also a group of first-year Engineering students who already take face-to-face classes on campus, complying with all biosafety measures. In the case of postgraduate studies, since last October some hybrid classrooms have been implemented that, through digital devices, allow to have face-to-face and virtual students simultaneously, not only for practical content.
As of February 2022, during the extraordinary academic period, this university will have hybrid classrooms in admissions and undergraduate courses; and it is expected that, as of May, all undergraduate and graduate academic activities will be face-to-face, except in the case of courses taught in hybrid classrooms.
Representatives of the Espol indicated that they will also have a group of subjects that will not return to face-to-face in the future and that they will remain in virtuality, for which they worked on training their teachers in something they called e-learning learning methodology.
Teachers have to redesign their courses taking advantage of information and communication technologies, for which a pedagogical strategy and a series of incentives were developed, in such a way that they do not lose the momentum towards virtuality that COVID-19 brought.
Regarding the infrastructure, they commented that it is ready for the return to presence. The maintenance required for the well-being of the students has been carried out.
Currently there is a percentage of vaccinated greater than 97% in the case of teachers and 85% in students.
During 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, Espol had an enrollment increase of around 6% in all its faculties. They were students who returned attracted by the new study modality, and also because they established mechanisms to extend debts, in such a way that the students did not have to pay any amount during all of 2020.
In that same year, they implemented a plan to provide technology and internet to students who required it, which made it possible to avoid dropping out for this reason. In 2021 they returned to their normal enrollment values, following the trend of 2019. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
