COVID-19. Impact of enrolment in Agricultural Engineering. Technical University of Manabí, Ecuador

Abstract

The expansion of the COVID-19 pandemic during the first half of 2020 has incorporated simultaneous effects that reach almost all countries in the world and most spheres of human activity. University studies are no exception. Its paralysis in the first moments and its subsequent transition to virtual teaching assisted by telematic networks, has led to the escalation of information and communication technologies in discourse, content, and university training scenarios. For young people who choose to enroll in university careers, inhibitory reactions were expected, especially in careers related to agricultural economics. The experience of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering of the Technical University of Manabí shows a singular behavior. The objective of this article was to characterize this behavior and reveal its fundamental causes with the support of a methodology that triangulates quantitative and qualitative approaches in a multidimensional systemic analysis. The article in its conclusions reveals the multifactorial conjunction that causes this result.