[05/24/2020 - 10:49h] Notes of the Director. Weekly Report (IX). COVID-19

Dear community,

It already has been 10 weeks since confinement begun, but we have just finished the first one during which the UPC has been Phase 1. The city of Terrassa is still in an earlier phase but tomorrow Monday, if all goes well, it will also move to Phase 1 normalizing the situation. This is a new step (slow but steady) towards the full revival of activity in our buildings. Activity is progressing but still very limited because it is essential to ensure safety and minimize risks. We wish we didn´t have to take a step back, we all know the price is too high. As every week, parts of our thoughts accompany all those who are suffering directly or indirectly from the crudest and most ruthless effects of the pandemic. Courage!

At the UPC level, the Plan for the unlockdown and progressive reactivation of activity at the UPC, which describes the steps and forecasts to move towards normality, continues to be deployed. We recommend reading the document.

In practice, during the next week, some minimum services will be launched at ESEIAAT to support Research, which is indicated according to the Plan for the unlockdown for this Phase 1. Thus, there will be a Concierge Service in the morning at the receptions of certain UPC buildings in Terrassa for:

• inform of the security measures,

• supply Elements of Personal Protection (EPIs) necessary for the activity, and

• reception and delivery of parcels.

Specifically, from Monday May 25^th the Concierge Service will serve the TR5, TR10, and TR14 buildings and from Thursday May 28 the service will be extended to the TR11 building.

Also remember that regular accesses remain closed and can only be entered through automated accesses. And more importantly, in terms of security measures, only previously authorized people can access. To request authorization, send an email to direccio.eseiaat@upc.edu. In any event at the time of access, authorized persons may go to the TR10 building.

However, from Monday, the parking in building TR1 and the parking in building TR11 will be open to authorized persons, either for on-off access or with a work permit. Unfortunately we will still have to wait to open the parking of the TR5 building, the vigilance of which and its accesses is much more complex.

From UPC, and so that the Atenea platform does not give problems during the month of June due to the coincidence of tests in all schools, a new platform has been created, Atenea Exams, which will be inserted in the current Atenea and that it will serve exclusively to make the examinations. It will come into operation shortly and next week, it will be sent to us all the information.

At the school level, two meetings took place this week in which two very important groups were convened. On the one hand, a meeting was held on Tuesday to which all the Administration and Service Staff was convened with the aim of gathering doubts and concerns about the aforementioned unlockdown Plan. On the other hand, on Wednesday all the Students were summoned to answer them, as far as the current possibilities and certainties, those doubts that may have arisen.

The conclusion of both meetings is that everything indicates that the School has entered into a “stationary regime” with certain tranquility (if you can say so considering the time we are in) and where everyone is developing their role” within the community as a whole.

But the School, how could it be otherwise, is already planning and preparing what is to become the most immediate future (closing of the 2019-20 academic year) and the “not so immediate” future (beginning of the academic year 2020-21).

To deal with the closing of the academic year 2019-20, a Standing Committee will be held at the School next Wednesday and one of the important items on the agenda will be, literally “Approval, if necessary, of the accord by which all final exams of the 2019-20 Q2 course will be non-face-to face”. The proposal from the School is that final exams of this term can be non-face-to-face.

It is worth mentioning that the examinations are scheduled for June, just around the corner, and we cannot guarantee the phase in which we will find ourselves or take for granted the displacement of people between health regions. In addition, a large concentration of students at the School to take face-to-face exams, in the current phase of the pandemic could pose a high risk of infection.

It is not a measure that likes us to propose in particular, but we consider it appropriate, coherent and necessary. In fact, we will have to wait a few more days for the re-assessment exams before making any decision, as these are exams with a much lower volume of students and are already scheduled for July. We remind you that everyone has representatives on the Standing Committee to whom you can send your opinion.

At the beginning of the next academic year, the UPC has created a working group to establish basic and common teaching criteria between all the centers. The School is already working on several hypotheses that need to be finalized when establishing the common criteria. The intention is to start the course with “normality” by adapting to the space restrictions that may be set by the health authorities.

Obviously, in this case the level of uncertainty is even higher and there are multiple variables that can influence various key aspects of our daily lives such as the modality of teaching (with different levels of attendance), the academic calendar and schedules. Also, be aware that perhaps all of a sudden, the contour conditions could change on the way if there is a regrowth. That is why we are working on a solution that can be robust enough and that, if necessary, can be reversible, adapting the teaching modality to the situation that may arise. We will inform you of the model when it is more defined, but in any case, if in this term we have all come out together, surely in the next one as well.

I take advantage of this opportunity to tell you that this week the student surveys about the subjects have been launched. The survey is not the same as every year, but the UPC has made a new version adapted to the situation.

Finally, as I have said on one occasion, I believe that the UPC and in particular the ESEIAAT, we have been an example of adaptation and collective intelligence to deal with the pandemic that has perturb everyone on the world, their social and economic life. We have been forced to move in record time from face-to-face model to a non-face-to-face model, using the telematics tools we have and large doses of effort: the effort of our teachers, our students and of our administration and services Staff. That’s why I want to send a message of optimism to face what is yet to come.

Thank you everyone and please take great care!

Hugs,

Xavier Roca

Director