Since the first days of the Covid-19 emergency, the University of Verona has been committed to supporting students and citizens with a number of initiatives. The virus has not stopped our Colourful Knowledge – and all our online services and initiatives, now available at your fingertips.
Right from the beginning of the outbreak, a web page has been created with the latest provisions and updates on the emergency. Teaching activities have continued without disruption thanks to the excellent IT tools that made it possible to deliver lectures online via distance learning: today, more than 80% of lectures are delivered remotely.
Important guest speakers regularly take part in our lectures, ranging from popular cartoonists to volleyball champions, while the spring graduation session has just ended with almost 2,000 new graduates. Surely online graduations are something completely new to students, but – according to our graduates – the joy of graduation day has remained unchanged.
A University, our community. To support our students, the University has established that the deadline for the payment of the second and third instalments of tuition fees be extended, while bringing forward the payment date of the second instalment of scholarships.
A fundraising campaign has also been launched, with almost 240,000 euros raised for the purchase of urgently needed equipment and facilities for hospitals in Verona. Subsequently, a campaign for student support initiatives was launched.
University lecturers have signed an appeal to the Italian Government, promoted by Médecins Sans Frontières, to commit to ensuring that everyone has access to the Covid-19 vaccine once it is available.
Not for everyone ‘quarantine’ means ‘security’. Not for the victims of domestic violence, who are now forced to stay home with their abusers. The Committee for Equal Opportunities, Employee Wellbeing and Non-Discrimination at Work – CUG has launched a campaign to tackle domestic violence. In addition, an information booklet intended for parents has been made available with suggestions and useful strategies to help children deal with the emotional impact that the current health emergency may have on their lives.
Great international solidarity was shown by Wenzhou University (China) which, in the name of friendship with the University of Verona, has donated personal protective equipment for the hospitals of Verona.
Research activities at the University of Verona have also continued without disruption, further focusing on the fight against the coronavirus. “Know it to defeat it, alliance against Covid-19 – Enact” is the name of the biomedical research project on Covid-19, now fully underway, funded by Fondazione Cariverona and coordinated by Prof. Vincenzo Bronte. Prof. Giuseppe Lippi has been appointed Chair of an international Task Force on Covid-19, while Prof. Evelina Tacconelli heads the coordinating centre of the WHO-supported projectSolidarity for Italy.
Many professors and lecturers have also done their best to keep the University active, each for their own part, and they have succeeded in doing so. One example is the latest edition of Dantedì, a one-day festival dedicated to Dante Alighieri, which was entirely held online. Some lecturers of our University have put their best efforts into producing short videos, which achieved thousands of views. The interviews on Covid-19 with experts and professors from our University departments, now fully available on the Covid-19 news web page on univrmagazine, have also proved very popular with our audience.
The importance of keeping your mind and body healthy is one of our core values: the University Library System has made available for consultation its online resources, while video tutorials produced by Movement Sciences professors and fitness instructors are being shared tohelp students keep fit and healthy at home.
Last but not least, workplace safety: amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the University was able to quickly adopt the Working from home scheme: today, 95% of our staff work from home.
