In response to the extraordinary COVID-19, or coronavirus, health crisis that has impacted day-to-day activities at Habib University and other institutes around the world, President Wasif Rizvi has reassured the HU community that “compassion and wisdom” will help HU get through during this uncertain period. He highlighted that a crisis like this cannot be tackled without these two essential elements. Though these are very difficult times with much uncertainty, he reassured the HU community that they will continue to be guided by Habib’s founding philosophy and mission statement of Yohsin (thoughtful self-cultivation).
“Compassion will allow us to lookout for the most vulnerable and ensures that care is uniformly available in our communities, while wisdom will let us to build the right kind of insight and see through rumors and misleading advice of utterly wrong ideas,” he emphasized.
With the situation remaining fluid and constantly shifting, President Wasif Rizvi took the HU community into confidence and addressed a number of university-related issues pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic. Emulating the example of many of HU’s international partner institutes including Stanford University, University of California, Berkley and Texas A&M University, Habib has shut its campus to prevent any possibility of an outbreak, while moving classes online. The University has consistently emphasized that the safety and well-being of students, faculty and staff was of paramount importance.
“Like thousands of other institutions, universities around the globe, HU is currently closed facing this unprecedented public health crisis of coronavirus …we have taken measures in the order of priority of what we regard as the most crucial and critical aspect of our service to this city and to this country,” President Wasif Rizvi explained. He also said that key decisions, announcements and information will regularly be communicated to the HU community.
In response to the crisis and an unstable situation for students, President Wasif Rizvi said that classes have now transitioned to online platforms and that despite current circumstances, life at HU will continue.
Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, Dr. Christopher Taylor has worked diligently with dedicated faculty members to ensure that that students’ academic work would continue online with minimum disruption and hindrance. Classes and lectures have now begun online for students, ensuring that despite the situation, learning goes on at Habib and will continue to go on.
The coronavirus pandemic has now affected countries throughout the world and on every inhabited continent. At the time of writing, according to John Hopkins University, more than 350,000 people have been infected globally, more than doubling the previous week’s total, with a similar statistic for the death toll.
HU has strictly adhered to World Health Organization (WHO) safety protocols and ensured that any form of exposure or suspicion of exposure by anyone is dealt with and that they immediately put themselves into self-quarantine.
