Rosa Visiedo, Rector of CEU USP: “Classrooms at CEU are still open”

CEU Universities have been able to face with advantage the COVID-19 crisis for their anticipation and solid work. Therefore they have efficiently responded to over 24,000 grade and post-graduate students focused on transmitting CEU’s support and guaranteeing that they were not going to lose a minute of their education. This way, they will be able to smoothly face May’s final appraisal. 

According to Rosa Visiedo, Rector of CEU San Pablo, this contingency plan prepared with anticipation has allowed CEU’s non-teaching staff, only 48 hours after the declaration of state of alarm, to telework. In turn, the teaching staff very soon started to teach remotely and students have been able to attend lessons even at the same times as in-class ones. That is what CEU calls “synchronous teaching”. Moreover “to control students we implemented control panels to monitor online activity. Also students have received attention and tutoring by professors, we have provided psychological support, advice on food and sports, out of class activities, digital contests…and surprise is that the attendance has been higher than when they are requested to attend in person”.

CEU’s early commitment to digital transformation

This concept was already present in programs for the redefinition of plans and in new grades as a line for strategic development. In Visiedo’s words “we have Vice-rectorates with competences in digital transformation as well as a Unit for transversal digitalization, the IT team has increased its activity and all in all with the idea of making the most of tools to face this situation”.

It’s been three years since the CEU started its commitment to technologies at institutional level. It was then when we started to collaborate with companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Blackboard, etc. Therefore, new initiatives started such as virtual assistants, control panels to monitor the academic and non-academic activity, predictive models for students’ assistance, automation and digitalization of non-academic processes, implementation of cloud-base collaborative work tools, improvement of user experience, etc.

In these last years the Unit for digital transformation has implemented platforms to move to the cloud information systems (CRM, BlackBoard, Office365, Sigma, Alexia and Teams at schools…), which are both scalable and accessible. With all these, to take measures to endure the coronavirus crisis has not involved any cost to CEU San Pablo or to the rest of CEU Universities fully adapted to the digital environment.

Social responsibility of CEU very present in the coronavirus crisis

From the first moment we did an inventory of the stock of available EPIS at faculties to provide them to Healthcare Authorities of the Autonomous Communities where CEU Universities are located. “We have offered PCR devices and the staff to perform these tests” says the Rector.

Other highly valuable actions have also been developed: At the Faculty of Pharmacy we have produced litters of hydroalcoholic gel and we have donated 10 respirators to the group of hospitals HM. Moreover, Fundación Universitaria San Pablo CEU has started the initiative SOS CEU to help people most in need along with Cáritas Madrid by means of telephone and home assistance for people who live alone or in vulnerable situations.