Pandemic, foreign students in China, online classes

[JinWenSen]

Hello, 

 

I'm in the middle of applying for scholarships and universities etc. for the fall of 2021 and I have a few questions:

 

• I was told recently that foreign students are still not allowed in China. Is that true ? If so, do we know if it will still be the case in September ? Are classes on campus within China online or do people within the country go to class in person ?
• Has anyone heard of or witnessed the quality of the university classes online ? I'm kind of worried that the Internet outside of Beijing or Shanghai might be kinda slow and lag a bunch.
• Does anyone know which universities offer online programs with classes only in the morning (Beijing time). That would work well for me since I have a 12-13h time difference with Beijing. I see BLCU has tons of online courses and classes with options for different time zones. 

 

Cheers !

[mungouk]

4 hours ago, JinWenSen said:

Are classes on campus within China online or do people within the country go to class in person ?

 

Here in my college classes have been F2F and on-campus since September, except where teachers were stranded overseas and couldn't get back to China. On-campus life is fairly "normal" except that 外卖 and 快递 drivers generally can't come in the gates, and there's still a lot of mask-wearing.

 

4 hours ago, JinWenSen said:

do we know if it will still be the case in September ?

 

Six months is a pretty long time-frame for making predictions given the amount of uncertainty over vaccinations, variants and when international travel might start to open up again. Most universities outside China that I've read about seem to be working on the assumption that international students won't be travelling overseas for study in 2021.

 

If anything, China is tightening restrictions even more just now... I just read today that inbound domestic travel even from low-risk areas to Beijing now requires a PCR test within the last 7 days, even if you're going by train,  and with even stricter rules for passengers coming from Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

 

[Weyland]

Pre-COVID most Chinese universities would upload their course list and application deadlines somewhere in January/February. It's now March and of the schools I want to apply for in Beijing they haven't uploaded anything yet.

I'm guessing that September is a no go. Might make sense if you take in mind that most students come from non-Western countries and as such won't be nowhere near finished with their vaccinations once September comes rolling around. When I look for: "2022" 简章留学生 on Google the only things that pop-up are work-study programs for Masters and schools in Taiwan.

[brigitte]

Same question as OP, however I live in Taiwan (where there is basically 0 virus circulation). Do you guys think there is a chance for me in September?

[pan.kasper]

Being an optimist, I believe that September is still very much on the table. China has been building its position of the third most attractive country to foreign students, after US and UK, and the pandemic is undermining years of effort. There is increasing pressure on Chinese government to reopen for students, as many of them are unable to finish their degree without access to laboratory. I can definitely see a scenario when in September students are allowed to return, with a caveat that they either must be first vaccinated in their countries or receive a vaccine upon landing in China + 14 days quarantine. 

[roddy]

I don't think the Chinese government will worry about sacrificing a year or two of growth in the educating-foreigners sector. Nightmare for those who are, eg, halfway through a medical degree.