Experience of (for) science and higher education in times of the coronavirus crisis causing COVID-19 disease

Abstract

The coronavirus causing COVID-19 disease, among many other effects, has re-evaluated the world of science and higher education. Experts representing the world of science have become indispensable for developing strategies to fight the pandemic, and their knowledge has become valuable not only for developing and producing an effective vaccine. Relying on modern and innovative facilities of higher education institutions, representatives of the business sector, state and local administration and science, must jointly participate in finding practical solutions to the problems of the state and society. Countries affected by the pandemic need such a system of research and higher education, in which science will serve social and economic development, university graduates will find absorbing work, and those in power will benefit from an independent expert base, regardless of which political option is at the helm of government. Given the new challenges faced by researchers and higher education in times of the coronavirus pandemic that causes COVID-19 disease and the changing economic and social conditions resulting from the pandemic, this paper examines the role and importance of the scientific world both during and after the pandemic.