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Columnist and international coordinator Mikael Nyblom: Surfing with an uncertain outcome

portrait of man.
Mikael Nyblom: "It feels like it was lucky that we were exposed to the situation in Hong Kong.  It became a sort of dress rehearsal for what was to come"

New epicentres of the pandemic are flaring up, borders are closing, partner universities are shutting their doors and international communications are collapsing. Working as an international coordinator during the corona crisis demands a total focus on the present, writes Mikael Nyblom. And what will happen to internationalisation in the future?

At the moment, working on internationalisation is a bit like surfing: you are standing on a foundation that continuously moves and you have to constantly micro-adjust and adapt to your changing surroundings. There is very little room to think ahead; you have to focus all your attention on the present to avoid sinking below the surface.

New epicentres of the pandemic are flaring up, borders are closing, partner universities are shutting their doors and international communications are collapsing. Due to an irritating cough that has been hard to shake, I have had to work from home for nearly two months, with all that it entails for the ability to concentrate – Daddy is working, darling, go to Mummy – and in the middle of all this we are implementing a new system to process exchange applications, which partly disrupts former work procedures.

The positive thing is that I do not have time to get bored. A national motto from the 90s, "only fun, almost always”, springs to mind.

Things actually started happening as early as last autumn with the unrest in Hong Kong and Chile. At the time, it became clear to those most involved that Lund University was quite ill equipped to handle major crises and primarily the information flow around it. In my opinion, the Division of External Relations then made an impressive change of gear and in a short time crisis management groups and new communications procedures were put in place.

In hindsight, it feels like it was lucky that we were exposed to the situation in Hong Kong.  It became a sort of dress rehearsal for what was to come. Now everyone within each international student category receives the same information, duplication of work is avoided and, at the faculties, we can focus on another type of problem solving.

Students are reacting to it all very differently, from the Indonesians who fled in panic at the beginning of March, to the Italians and the French who for some reason are not at all interested in returning home to quarantines and curfews. One Swedish student wrote to me asking about summer courses abroad at the same time as partner universities are starting to make contact to inform us about their cancellations of all the autumn exchange programmes. We try to offer affected students an alternative place at universities that have not cancelled their programmes – yet. I keep surfing.

Gradually, the thoughts creep in: for how much longer will I feel relatively secure? For the time being, we are very busy with problem solving and the implementation of the new application system. Thereafter, we need to tackle the renegotiation of all exchange agreements before the coming Erasmus cycle. However, after that? Will we see societies pulling up the drawbridge, resulting in a permanent reduction in mobility? Will right-wing populists and leaders in countries with less democratic governance be able to advance their position while everyone else, like a deer caught in the headlights, is blinded by coronavirus news? Will there even be a place for people like me, who see themselves as cosmopolitans, in a world after Covid-19? I hope so – however, I cannot completely shake off the gnawing feeling that it may not work out like that.

I suddenly realise how bad the surf analogy is. You rarely succeed in catching the wave, and even if you successfully manage to surf it, more often than not it still ends with you falling back into the water.

Mikael Nyblom, international coordinator, Faculty of Science

 

 

 

 
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About LUM

The first edition of Lund University Magazine – LUM – was published 1968. Today, the magazine reaches all employees and also people outside the university. The magazine is published six times per year. Editor Jan Olsson.

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