Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services

University of Arizona President Robert Robbins speaks at a press conference April 14, 2020. Behind him is Gov. Doug Ducey.

School will be back in session in the fall — that’s the goal of University of Arizona President Robert Robbins.

He says safety protocols will have to be put in place in order to resume on-campus activities, but attendance may be hindered anyway. 

During a Greater Phoenix Economic Council webinar on Friday, Robbins says they are projecting an at least 80% reduction in first year international students and potentially 25% of their out-of-state students “just won’t come back.”

There may be a hybrid approach of gap years and online-only attendance from some students but Robbins says collectively, this could lead to a huge problem in producing research. 

“The biggest issue is a drop in revenue. While we are trying to keep our research enterprise going, it’s very difficult because a lot of the work that is done, the frontline work that is done in our research labs are done by our students," Robbins said. 

Robbins thinks there will be a resurgence of COVID-19 and so precautions will need to be kept until a vaccine is made. 

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