The role of university in managing psychosocial issues during Covid-19 Pandemic

• Main Author: Mohd Noor, Noor Azlan
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: GN Anthropology
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/86577/1/1D%20Keynote%20Address-Covid%2019%20Edited%20Azlan%20%20021220%20pdf.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/86577/3/Dr%20azlan.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/86577/4/Appointment%20Keynote%20Speaker%20ISRUPIC%202020.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/86577/

This keynote addresses the role of university in managing psychosocial issues during Covid19 pandemic. It is imperative for the university to play its role in disseminating ideas for ummatic vision. Life is not to be perceived and experienced as happenstance. Life management could be otherwise if we are truly committed within ourselves to the spirit laid down and adopted in Surah al-Ra’d verse 11, Allah s.w.t. In relation to this, Azlan KH-I Model (AKH-I Model) was introduced and proposed emphasising on five (5) main principles namely, (1) Khalifah or Caliph (2) Anthropological Imagination (3) Syariah compliance (4) Noble and righteous deeds (‘amal soleh) and (5) spiritual guidance and help in the guise of ibadah. Following the AKH-I Model designed or adopted, the first step, as a khalifah, we need holistic understanding of psychosocial issues faced by our community. This holistic understanding is best achieved through participant-observation and community-engagement approaches to gather any comprehensible inputs of psychosocial needs within the community. At this juncture, the magnitude of university’s engagement in addressing psychosocial needs can easily be measured through roles played simultaneously, i.e., as a member and observer of the community. For this, three (3) main issues were explored using AKH-I Model, namely family well-being and children adjustment, community-engagement and sector-based focusing on workplace. In addressing those issues, the university could devise several strategies. These include emphasising on strategic human engagement modules by participating as consultant in humanitarian intervention and outreach programmes, developing action-oriented module by tapping into family resources and other resources within the neighbourhood, creating new referral-system or possibilities or avenues that could be capitalised by the university authorities’ concerted efforts to overcome impasses to change, and finally, providing guidelines and principles in effective online learning & designing psychosocial support programmes for the vulnerable social groups in the community. It is highly suggested that University’s curriculum should go beyond class-based oriented study focusing on applied knowledge. In addition, the University’s mission should adopt khalifah vision which construe volunteerism concept as ‘amal soleh which is solely meant to secure unceasing rewards in the guise of ibadah from Allah s.w.t. Finally, this keynote emphasizes the importance of harmonising the theoretical and practical dimensions of communityengagement efforts using the AKH-I Model.