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 March to combat the spread of coronavirus.
Nottingham, Birmingham City and Leeds universities were among the many UK higher education providers told they must delay the return of academics and students until 2 March. 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 and includes the lunar new year, until the virus is under control.
Nottingham University runs a campus for almost 8,000 students in the city of Ningbo, 125 miles south of Shanghai. A spokeswoman said “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. She said the university would be able to cope with a degree of disruption over the coming months. The university has longstanding contingency arrangements to amend semester dates and provide additional learning resources and support through online methods.”
It is difficult to see when things may start to return to normal and longer closures may be in the cards.
Photo / Image Credit :
"Chinese students at a summer program at the Hill School in Pottstown" by Montgomery County Planning Commission under licensed by (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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