SeriesFive years after Covid
What does the uni look like now?
We had been hearing concerning things from abroad for a few weeks before the first person fell victim to the coronavirus here in the Netherlands. But it was still a shock when then prime minister Mark Rutte told us on 12 March, 2020, five years ago this week, that we would have to start working from home and that all public events had been cancelled.
For the students and staff of the UG, life also changed suddenly, as this video compilation shows: lecture halls and hallways were empty, the buses to Zernike were unoccupied, no one was working out at ACLO, and everyone had to stay six feet away from each other.
Video classes had to be set up in a hurry, research came to a standstill, and nights out in the pub made way for walks in the Noorderplantsoen.
Now, five years later, we have returned to the normal way of doing things. But has the virus had any lasting effects on the university, and if so, what kind of effects? What, if anything, has improved, and what things will never return to the way they were? In a series of articles, UKrant looks into how the pandemic affected education, student association life, and our social behaviour. This week, we kick off by asking what working from home has brought us.
The growth of student associations
How did corona influence our social behaviour?