The fall semester of 2020 has started for more than a month.
Up to now, many international students have started their studies overseas; some are still stranded in China.
The global epidemic of new crown pneumonia has not yet stopped, and some countries are even facing the impact of a second wave of epidemics.
How are the international students?
Emergency reminders from the embassy in cases of infection
On the 16th, the Chinese Embassy in Italy issued an urgent reminder on its website to prevent the impact of the second wave of the epidemic.
The announcement pointed out that at present, nearly 100 overseas Chinese and students studying in Italy have been infected, many of whom are severely ill. The impact is far more severe than the first wave of the epidemic.
Screenshot of the Chinese Embassy in Italy.
The announcement stated that recently, the second wave of epidemics in Europe has been fierce, and the number of confirmed cases in a single day in many countries has continued to rise, and its severity has exceeded the first wave.
In Italy, the number of newly diagnosed cases in a single day has repeatedly hit new highs, and the number of deaths in the past week has increased by nearly 40%.
Experts said that the second wave of the epidemic has not yet reached its peak, and there is still no certainty when it will improve.
The Italian government has urgently introduced strict prevention and control measures in this regard.
For this reason, the Chinese Embassy in Italy once again solemnly reminds all overseas Chinese, overseas students and personnel of Chinese-funded institutions in Italy to be vigilant, strengthen precautions, and ensure health and safety.
It's not only in Italy.
Reports show that there have been many cases of student cluster infection in foreign countries recently, including Chinese students.
The Chinese Embassy in Canada issued an announcement on the 10th to remind international students to prevent cluster infections.
According to the Embassy in Canada, at the end of September, 12 Chinese students studying in Ottawa relaxed their vigilance and went to a local karaoke hall to attend a classmate’s birthday party. During this period, they neither wore masks nor maintained social distance, leading to the occurrence of a mass infection of new coronary pneumonia.
Nine of them were diagnosed and one was admitted to the intensive care unit (now discharged).
This not only brings serious risks to oneself and public health, but also makes domestic relatives and friends worried and distressing. It also sounds a wake-up call to all overseas students and Chinese citizens in Canada.
Overseas online courses are mostly international students to make personal plans
Wang Yifei, an international student at the University of Leeds, majored in film photography and media.
More than a year ago, she arrived in Leeds to start the preparatory school and officially entered school this fall.
Affected by the strong rebound of the second wave of the epidemic in Europe, Wang Yifei's only offline course was cancelled and he took the course by watching the video of the course recorded in advance.
In the planning of studying abroad career, Wang Yifei originally planned to participate in club activities, meet new friends, and apply for company internship opportunities in his sophomore year.
Now that the plan had to be adjusted, she turned her attention to some online internships.
"The number of applicants for these internships is very large and the competition is under great pressure. It can be seen that many students are eagerly looking for opportunities to improve their practical ability. I have also been paying close attention to online internship positions in the industry." Wang Yifei said.
On October 14th, local time, the UK’s new anti-epidemic restriction measures "graded blockade order" took effect, which was the strictest blockade order since the second wave of the outbreak in the UK.
The "Classified Lockdown Order" divides all parts of the UK into three levels of lockdown, "medium", "high", and "very high" based on the epidemic situation.
The picture shows Liverpool Central Station in northwest England.
At the beginning of September, on the curriculum of Li Bowen, a senior student majoring in foreign economic management at the National Metallurgical University of Ukraine, some small classes that were less enrolled and resumed offline teaching were markedly marked.
However, only a few weeks later, affected by the worsening of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Ukraine, the university temporarily switched to online learning.
Entering the graduation year, Li Bowen needs to complete a series of tasks such as completing thesis, applying for internship, and inspecting the target colleges and universities at the graduate level.
"I can't change the epidemic. All I can do is to advance my academic plan step by step, step by step, and try to minimize the adverse effects."
There are many difficulties in domestic online courses, the Ministry of Education clears the way for international students to study
Many international students stranded in China face many difficulties such as long time lag and lack of practice.
Li Yi is a first-year doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This fall, the new semester should be her first year in the United States.
However, affected by the epidemic, she could only stay at her home in Shanghai and carry out course learning through online classes.
In the new semester, her school adopts a hybrid online + offline resumption method.
For students who cannot return to school for on-site classes like her, they can also apply for all courses to be converted to remote online classes.
Due to the 12-hour time difference between Li Yihe and the school in China, it is very difficult to participate in the live teaching of teachers.
Li Yi’s class time is from 9 pm to 3 am Beijing time, and sometimes I need to attend seminars at 5 am.
"Sometimes I watch the replay of the live course, but the network is too slow, and it often takes three or four hours to watch it."
The conversion of all courses in the new semester to online has brought some negative effects on Li Yi's study.
The material engineering major she studied requires a lot of experiments, and the inability to return to campus prevents her from conducting experiments simultaneously while studying.
In order to effectively help overseas students solve many problems on their way to school, the Ministry of Education of China has introduced a series of measures to clear the way for international students and provide more choices for studying:
Under the premise of ensuring education fairness, colleges and universities are allowed to accept overseas students to study in China by signing exchange agreements with overseas cooperative colleges and universities;
Allowing some Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run schools and projects, as well as the Mainland (the motherland) and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan cooperatively-run schools and projects, under the premise of ensuring education fairness, to assess and recruit some overseas students who meet specific conditions, two-way selection, and merit-based admission to provide students with Domestic study opportunities.
At the same time, in order to simplify the procedures for returning overseas students, the Ministry of Education announced that it will cancel the "Certificate of Returned Overseas Students" from November 1, 2020.
Starting October 1, embassies and consulates abroad will no longer accept applications for issuance.
Under the epidemic, the time for overseas students to study abroad has been shortened, and many people worry that this will affect the degree certification.
In response, the Ministry of Education responded that it will not affect the degree of education of overseas students who are unable to return to school on time due to the epidemic prevention and control and take some courses online, and the resultant stay time abroad does not meet the educational system requirements. Factors of certification results.
Epidemic hard to stop the demand for studying abroad, see rainbow after wind and rain
Under the epidemic situation, international students are experiencing many difficulties.
What impact will the epidemic have on studying abroad?
Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental and chairman of New Oriental Education Technology Group, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency that the impact of the epidemic on studying abroad is temporary.
Yu Minhong: The market for studying abroad is still in demand
He believes that once the global epidemic has passed, studying abroad in China will return to normal.
Foreign countries will not reject Chinese students because of the epidemic, and even welcome Chinese students even more.
"From the wishes of Chinese parents, studying abroad will not be affected." Yu Minhong said, as everyone knows, the process of China's globalization must be the process of China's talents becoming more and more globalized.
Therefore, no matter from the state to the private sector, the situation of studying abroad in China will not be greatly affected in principle.
Recently, facts have also verified this.
After the official opening of TOEFL test places for the whole year of 2021 on October 14, only 5 minutes, test takers from Beijing and Shanghai will rush to the first batch of test places released from January to August 2021.
This is enough to see the demand of Chinese students for studying abroad.
The epidemic is not over, but it is difficult to stop the thirst for knowledge.
Nowadays, vaccine research and development has also brought dawn, and I believe that everything will pass, and international students will eventually see a rainbow after the storm!
Source: China Overseas Chinese Network WeChat Official Account (ID: qiaowangzhongguo) Editor: Ma Xiuxiu
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition, Beijing News, China News, China Overseas Chinese Network, etc.