Transformations in Higher Education to Cope with COVID-19: the Case of the University of Matanzas in Cuba

Abstract

Faced with the threat of COVID- 19 and its spread throughout the world, as well as its arrival in Cuba, Higher Education, in line with the country's leadership, must adjust to the new epidemiological situation and generate possible strategies to attend to all the university population in the different study modalities. This article shows the transformations proposed by the University of Matanzas with the participation of all the actors in the teaching-learning process and the results obtained from its implementation in a 2019-2020 school year that had already been affected in its beginnings by the complexities of the international situation that caused an energy emergency in the country. The involvement of students and teachers in curbing the spread of the epidemic in activities such as attention to contacts and suspects, the elderly, or the poorest population, as well as continuing their teaching and learning activities, shows the progress made in the comprehensive training of our future graduates.