Recovery plans alone can’t fix Covid-damaged universities
The coronavirus pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on universities and researchers across Europe. Higher education institutions had to shut their campuses, and some even confined students to halls. Research projects were put on hold, and travel bans and social distancing put paid to a year’s worth of conferences and collaborative meetings.
So the news that universities and other places of research are to benefit from the EU’s €750 billion Covid-19 recovery fund was a balm to many of the continent’s academics. But the details are worth scrutinising if this is to be more than just a sicking plaster on a major wound.