How will the pandemic affect universities? How will they metamorphose as they go through the COVID-19 period and then the time after it's over?
I define the COVID-19 period as the time before vaccines and drugs are developed to combat the new coronavirus. This is the time when the "new normal" of wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distances are required to avoid infection in the “Three Cs” environment: closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded and close-contact settings. In the period that follows, COVID-19 will become an ordinary infectious disease that can be combated by vaccines and drugs, like influenza.
At Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), where I serve as president, all the classes during the first half of this school year (April-September) are being held online using the Zoom video-conferencing system.