The Formulation of Epidemic Prevention Work of COVID-19 for Colleges and Universities: Priorities and Recommendations

• Main Authors: Wan-Chi Jackie Hsu, Huai-Wei Lo, Chin-Cheng Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: epidemic prevention; COVID-19; risk management; colleges and universities; Bayesian BWM
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2081

As the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic spreads all over the world, governments of various countries are actively adopting epidemic prevention measures to curb the spread of the disease. However, colleges and universities are one of the most likely places for cluster infections. The main reason is that college students have frequent social activities, and many students come from different countries, which may very likely cause college campuses to be entry points of disease transmission. Therefore, this study proposes a framework of epidemic prevention work, and further explores the importance and priority of epidemic prevention works. First of all, 32 persons in charge of epidemic prevention from various universities in Taiwan were invited to jointly formulate a campus epidemic prevention framework and determined 5 dimensions and 36 epidemic prevention works/measures/criteria. Next, Bayesian best worst method (BWM) was used to generate a set of optimal group criteria weights. This method can not only integrate the opinions of multiple experts, but also effectively reduce the complexity of expert interviews to obtain more reliable results. The results show that the five most important measures for campus epidemic prevention are the establishment of a campus epidemic prevention organization, comprehensive disinfection of the campus environment, maintenance of indoor ventilation, proper isolation of contacts with confirmed cases, and management of immigration regulations for overseas students. This study provides colleges and universities around the world to formulate anti-epidemic measures to effectively reduce the probability of COVID-19 transmission on campuses to protect students’ right to education.