Universities’ Global Ambitions Undimmed Despite Pandemic, Say Vice Chancellors
Covid-19 is disrupting academic and student mobility in short term but university leaders are optimistic that higher education will maintain its international outlook
Universities will remain “intrinsically global in outlook and in design” despite the Covid-19 pandemic, sector leaders have told the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit.
Anton Muscatelli, principal of the University of Glasgow, said that there was “huge demand still for international education” while the pandemic has shown “the importance of international collaboration in research”.
“I don’t think this crisis will in any way change our outlook,” he said. “My university has been around for over five centuries, through times of strife and war. Immediately after that, even though there might have been a disruption to student mobility and linkages, these linkages immediately sprang back.”
Regarding student mobility, he said that during the Covid-19 crisis there had been “increasing demand for students to come and study in the UK”, a trend he said had been corroborated by colleagues in Canada, Australia and elsewhere.
“I don’t think this trend will be reversed,” he said.
