It was a challenge, an ordeal, a stress test for the university administration, the faculty, and the students.
On March 18, 2020, Vologda State University went into the coronavirus lockdown. In the shortest possible time VSU had to completely reorganize its work, solve a ton of issues related to accommodating the international students who were unable to return home, and introducing safety measures to prevent the virus spread.
All of a sudden the classrooms were empty. The students left their dorms. Silent were the gyms. The situation was even more complicated by the fact that the university had to decide on its own how to continue educational activities in the new situation: there were no ready-made answers and no one could offer them. But still this difficult task was solved.
The university administration, the faculty, the staff members came up with ideas how to deal with the current situation.
Natalia Yastreb, Director of the Institute of Social and Humanitarian Sciences, shared her reminiscences about the first weeks of the lockdown:
“In the meeting, we found out that we were in the virus lockdown, and that all the students had to return home within two days. For me, who had only been in the tenure for a month and a half, it was a real challenge. We found ourselves in some sort of vacuum and total mayhem. The messenger apps exploded with texts from the students who did not want to leave their dorms. I tried to reason with the students and calm them down.
The faculty members needed help too. They did not know how to teach, how to interact with the students online. We had to solve all these problems within a few days. But we did it, we withstood all difficulties, we did not fail and continued the educational process”.
… In the new academic year 2020-2021 Vologda State University has reopened to face-to-face teaching. We obtained new knowledge and new experience which will be very useful in the future.