"Et the University of Navarra, the crisis has never led us to park our projects and now we intend to ensure that the health and economic crisis status does not paralyze them". This was stated today by the President of the University of Navarra, Alfonso Sánchez-Taberneroduring official opening of the academic year 2020-21. A singular event due to the circumstances, with a reduced capacity composed by the members of the plenary session of the Executive Council of the board Government and a representation of the highest authorities of Navarra.

In this way, he announced that "the necessary steps are being taken to build a new Sciences Buildingas soon as possible at campus in Pamplona". This space will have two distinct areas: in the first will be located the classrooms and laboratories that will allow the growth of the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Science, and Pharmacy and Nutrition; and in the second, the new Science Museum, which is dedicated to the research, Education and communication of nature and the environment. "We trust," he added, "that in this adventure we will have significant public support and the financial aid of many institutions and companies committed to biodiversity and sustainable development .

He also referred to the "Prepara2" plan, launched by the University to offer a quality face-to-face teaching , but at the same time taking into account different scenarios where we can provide online teaching for some or all students. "If we aim to make the University of Navarra one of the best places in the world to study, we now add a detail: "particularly, in times of uncertainty"," he clarified.
 

Exemplarity of university students in the face of the pandemic

In this regard, Professor Sánchez-Tabernero pointed out that we should not react to the virus with fear or frivolity. "We cannot live in fear, confined to our homes, because that attitude would have serious social, economic and educational consequences. But neither can we behave recklessly, without taking the most effective preventive measures," he said. "We university students must be particularly exemplary. Prudence in rigorously complying with all the rules is the fundamental way to show solidarity in these times of pandemic," he said.

The President mentioned the measures taken by the academic center for the beginning of the academic year, such as free PCR tests for all professionals and students, permanent medical surveillance, random covid-19 scans and adaptation of spaces, but insisted that "none of these measures will be effective without the behavior staff manager ".
 

Priorities during the pandemic: protecting health and health care workers' jobs work

Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero also reviewed the University of Navarra's response to the pandemic: "We understood very early on that the crisis required us to clarify our priorities: first, we decided to protect the health of our employees and students, and to maintain the jobs at work; then, we decided to continue carrying out our work with the highest possible quality, under very complex conditions; and finally, we wanted to face the pandemic with an outlook of solidarity, with the idea of helping the most vulnerable people".

With these clear principles, as stressed by President, the campus was closed very early, teleworking was promoted and teaching was transformed - in a weekend - from face-to-face to online. "During the confinement, 24,000 teaching hours were taught and 68,000 exams were administered non-face-to-face. issue The Clinic treated 1,600 patients with covid-19 and in Madrid the number of ICU places available tripled, with a 95% recovery rate for hospitalized patients," he recalled.

Professor Sánchez-Tabernero thanked the employees, both of the teaching centers and of the Clinic, for their commitment during these months, which constitutes "the second pillar of the University's action in the face of covid-19".

He also highlighted the economic effort of the academic center, which has increased its scholarship allocation to alleviate the negative impact of the pandemic on many families. "With the financial aid of many benefactors - many of them alumni- the resources allocated to scholarships have grown from 4.5 million euros to 6.5 million. subject This increase has allowed us to increase the number of students who will receive some financial support from the University this year from 2,000 to 3,000," he explained.

A unique academic event
 

The opening ceremony began with a mass officiated by Archbishop Francisco PérezFrancisco Pérez, Archbishop of Pamplona. This was followed by the academic ceremony at classroom Magna, in a very unique way due to the special status we experienced. For the first time in the history of the University it did not begin with the traditional academic parade and the attendance was reduced to the members of the plenary session of the Executive Council of the board Government and the highest authorities of Navarre. However, it was broadcast live via streaming for the entire university community.

Among the authorities was the counselor Juan Cruz Cigudosawho attended on behalf of the President of the Government of Navarre; Unai HualdePresident of the Parliament of Navarre; Enrique MayaMayor of Pamplona; Joaquin GalvePresident of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra; José Luis ArastiGovernment delegate; and José Antonio Sánchez Sánchez-VillaresChief Prosecutor of Navarra. Also in attendance was the President of the UPNA, Ramon Gonzalothe president of the NLC, Juan Miguel Sucunzaand the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Javier Tabernaamong others.

What was not missing, in addition to the speech of President, was the reading of the report by University Secretary, Jesús María Ezpondawho was making his debut in his position; and the inaugural lecture, entitled "Past, present and future of the analysis and design of Structures", which was given by position by the professor of the School of Architecture Eduardo Bayo. The Full Professor of Mechanics of Continuous Media and Theory of Structures made a historical tour of the structural design from the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations to the present day, when structural analysis concerns all engineering and architecture.

In his review, he recalled that "structure is a common denominator in many fundamental elements that surround us, such as a bridge, a dam, a pedestrian walkway, a building, a vehicle or an airplane". Thus, he recounted the great advance experienced by the design of Structures in the 20th century, with the development of reinforced concrete, the improvement of the joints in the Structures of laminated steel (which made it possible to erect such emblematic constructions as the Golden Gate Bridge or the Empire State Building, in 1937 and 1931, respectively) and the ideation of the Finite Element Method, thanks to the appearance of computers.

This method "has allowed the implementation of very consolidated and powerful computational tools, which facilitate very sophisticated analyses, as well as the optimization of different structural designs". "As an example," he explained, "a team of engineers from the University of Sydney studied the Eiffel Tower and concluded that if the Finite Element Method had been applied in its construction, it would have required 46% less steel."

Finally, Eduardo Bayo Pérez highlighted the great field of possibilities that are opening up with the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data techniques: "There is even a new paradigm in sight, Explainable Artificial Intelligence, which uses artificial intelligence techniques based on scientific methods that have already been developed".