British universities are braced for a long shutdown of their Chinese campuses after Beijing said it would extend the closure of China’s higher education sector into next month to combat the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.
Nottingham, Birmingham City and Leeds universities were among the many British higher education providers that were told they must delay the return of academics and students until March 2, after they were initially told to keep their Chinese offshoots closed until Feb. 24.
The decision to extend the shutdown of higher education throughout China until next month is expected to be a clear signal to other parts of the country’s education system to prolong the winter break, which started in December last year and includes the Lunar New Year, until the virus is under control.
Photo: AFP
Beijing has allowed local authorities to use their own judgment about when to open schools and locally controlled universities later this month, but the move to extend the closure of centrally funded and regulated universities, which includes foreign-owned campuses, is expected to persuade most local officials to follow Beijing’s lead.
More than 35,000 people in China and 24 other countries have contracted the virus, and hundreds have died.
Nottingham University runs a campus for almost 8,000 students in the city of Ningbo, 40km south of Shanghai.
“Our overriding priority is for the health of our students, staff and community. However, our aim will be to ensure that none of our students are academically or economically disadvantaged,” a spokeswoman said.
“Along with other universities in China, [the campus] is observing all advice from the health authorities and has extended the lunar new year holiday. The new semester is now planned to start on March 2,” she added.
She said the university would be able to cope with a degree of disruption over the coming months.
“The university has long-standing contingency arrangements to amend semester dates and provide additional learning resources and support through online methods,” the spokeswoman said.
Birmingham City University has 1,000 Chinese students at its joint venture with Wuhan Textile University — the Birmingham Institute of Fashion and Creative Art.
“Wuhan Textile University was closed for the Lunar New Year and its reopening will be a matter for our Chinese partners. We are in close communication with our partners and the UK government to understand the impact on our students,” a spokesman said.
Liverpool University has a joint venture with Xi’an Jiaotong University, which has 32,000 students and is based northeast of Wuhan.
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