The head of one of the world¡¯s highest-ranked young universities has talked of the symbolic importance of reopening campuses after the Covid-19 lockdown in Italy.

Sabina Nuti, rector of the Sant¡¯Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, said the country¡¯s national quarantine had been a major shock for its younger academics, many of whom were abroad when the full lockdown started in March.

¡°The concept that they were not free, that they had to come back home and that something was really changing their life and the way of working in universities¡±, was a shock, ¡°especially for the younger students and researchers¡±, she said.

Keeping them connected during the lockdown had also been a challenge and ¡°perhaps they started to think that the work they do is not relevant¡±, Professor Nuti told?Times ÖйúAƬ¡¯s virtual Young Universities Summit, at a panel hosted in association with Elsevier.

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That was why ¡°it was really important to open the university as soon as possible¡±, she added, in order to send a message that ¡°your work is important, we believe that you can make a difference¡±, referring to the institution¡¯s reopening, alongside safety measures, last month.

She said it had also been difficult to maintain research collaborations online, but her institution recognised the vital importance of keeping them ¡°alive so that we will be ready when the frontiers will be open and the barriers are down to facilitate exchanges and teamwork¡±.

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On a wider level, she said, she hoped that the pandemic had changed Italy¡¯s attitude towards the need to invest in research and ÖйúAƬ.

¡°We were spending a really low amount of money on research and universities. I?think that now everybody knows that the future of our country has to do a lot with how much we invest in research, and I?think our young [academics] have a lot of responsibility on how we¡¯re going to spend the money that will be invested,¡± Professor Nuti said.

Tian Xu, vice-president of Westlake University in China, told the same panel discussion on the impact of Covid-19 on young institutions that it wanted to ¡°double [its] effort to collaborate¡± despite the pandemic.

¡°We truly believe that this is actually the solution to understand each other¡¯s culture and to understand each other¡¯s differences,¡± he said.

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He said the emergency in China had also had a ¡°tremendous impact on our faculty and students because it made them¡­feel that the purpose of research becomes very, very clear¡±.

Meanwhile, Kate McGrath, deputy vice-chancellor for research at the University of Technology Sydney, said she hoped that online research collaboration would enable universities ¡°to break down hierarchical barriers¡±.

This was ¡°because the digital platform is actually an equalising platform in a way that is often not the case if you have to cold call or go through any other sorts of networks¡±.

Another panellist in the discussion, Manel Jim¨¦nez Morales, commissioner for education and communication projects at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, also said the pandemic had created ¡°equity among universities because they had the same tools to communicate¡±.

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simon.baker@timeshighereducation.com