June 21, 2020 - 10:30h] Notes of the Director. Weekly Report (XIII). COVID-19

Dear community,

This week that concludes has been “multiphase”: on Monday we were in Phase 2, we passed ephemerally through Phase 3 (only a few hours) and we ended up fully immersed in the so-called Phase of Resumption. Everything goes very fast and with so much sudden change we can experience a certain feeling of vertigo. We observe with concern how regrowths appear in various places, although it seems that they are controlled with a certain diligence, a reassuring fact. All this gives the feeling of a system with great fragility that could be broken at any time. Making a human castle simile, we just successfully loaded a 3 of 10 with liner and shackles but the unloading is being shaky and at any moment a bad step could lead us to make firewood. Forgive me but I was born in Vilafranca and I work in Terrassa (two big castle cities) ... We hope that no one gets hurt at this time and a lot of encouragement for those who have already taken it. A hug!!

Internally, although the society has already moved to the Resumption Phase, the criteria approved in the Phase 3 at the UPC’s un-lockdown Plan are still applicable. These will not change until the new guidelines are approved by the Governing Council on July 2nd. The main difference with Phase 2 is that a 50% occupancy of the spaces is now allowed. Remember that, in order not to exceed this limit, those who want to access the buildings must send an e-mail to direccio.eseiaat@upc.edu, communicating your intention to go to work in person 

Also remember that authorized activities are limited to:

• Support Services to the Research Laboratory.

• Experimentation related to Final Thesis (TFE) and Doctoral Thesis (with authorization from the Director of TFE, Director of Thesis and School Management).

• Limited Concierge Service (opening of spaces, reception of parcels, ...).

• Maintenance Service.

• ICT services.

• Academic Secretariat (by appointment).

• Library Service (by appointment).

Also, internally the Final Exams at the School have started this week, with the debut of the Final Exam Support Group that was created to provide telematic support to the PDI. In general, all the tests were carried out normally, the system endure approximately 1000 daily entries, and only sporadic support from the Group was needed during the examination in specific cases. Know that you will have, during all the days of the exam period, teachers eager to help. A big thank you to them.

And linking with other exams, the second week of July there will be re-assessments that will be face-to-face. However, as indicated by the Rector, it will be necessary to prepare an alternative assessment system for those students who, in a justified way, communicate that it is impossible for them to travel to the School 

In other news, during this week the whole community has received information on the action scenarios planned for September. The Teaching Model has been made available to everyone after being explained to the Degree and Master's Degree Coordinators’, the representatives of the Departments and the Student Delegation.

Preparing for future events is not easy, but to build the model have followed clear guidelines bearing in mind, first of all, that the UPC is an eminently face-to-face public university where a training model based on the experience and with experimentation as an added value. The ESEIAAT is a clear example of this model. For this reason, the Teaching Model for the next semester seeks the maximum possible face-to-face attendance.

At the beginning of the next year, the starting position or Scenario A predicts that attendance will range between 100% and 50%, although everything may vary depending on the casuistry of a specific course. In addition, the model may be affected by the instantaneous situation of a potential new confinement (which would involve 0% face-to-face attendance) and by the specific measures that the health authorities determine for the university (which we hope will facilitate us to approach the 100%). For now, the next step is to close the schedules for the next semester and have detailed information for all subjects.

I want to explicitly comment on two points that very directly affect the Students. From one hand, there have been changes relative to the deadlines for the Final Thesis (TFEs). With the modification of the academic calendar that was made at the beginning of the pandemic, there has appear a 2-week break between the deadline for the new TFEs proposals and the enrollment deadline of the same ones. Therefore, we want to facilitate the system by extending the deadlines as follows:

• The entry of TFE titles by the Director takes place from June 14th to July 1st.

• The validation of proposals by the Coordinator moves from June 21 to July 8.

• The assignment of statements to the Student moves from June 28 to July 15.

The second point of special relevance is that within the extraordinary measures for the next semester, there is an offer of 76 learning scholarships for students of the School to perform tasks related to academic collaborations with departments such as: support to Introductory Courses, support to Academic Mentoring and support to Teaching. The call for these scholarships is being opened in stages and as specific information is received. To facilitate the visualization and understanding of the UPC scholarship application (which is not trivial) we have put all the scholarship information in TAAIESE with the corresponding explanations. We encourage you to participate.

Finally, we must once again thank everyone for their willingness, predisposition, patience and empathy to deal with this forced situation. Metaphorically, about 100 days ago we entered together in a kind of dark, cold tunnel in which we could only grope. But we didn’t stop and started walking, without running but without rest, even though we didn’t see clearly where we were putting our feet. We have made our way together, we have accompanied, helped and encouraged each other. There have been moments of nerves, doubts, suffering, anguish, fear… But now, after many moments of absolute darkness, the last bend allows us to intuit the light at the end of this tunnel. The exit is already close but we can't stumble right now that we have it so close. The return must be orderly, quiet and planned. Let’s keep calm and again, all together, we will achieve it. I am convinced that our common project, the ESEIAAT, will be strengthened. Now it is almost a cliché, but this School that has been put upside down (TAAIESE) for 3 months will come out of the pandemic better and stronger than it did. We have faced our fears and concerns, and we are overcoming them. Our collective intelligence has grown and our human capital, which was already very large, has become much more visible. It is a pride to be the Director of this community, our community.

Thank you so much everyone for everything, and please take great care, stay safe!

A big hug,

Xavier Roca

Director of the ESEIAAT

"Every day that passes we are closer."