In the mix of the Coronavirus, the New York University Shanghai campus has found an alternative way to continue schooling with the launch of a curriculum for a hybrid semester.
The recent outbreak of Coronavirus has affected the Chinese economy, education, and other sectors that have witnessed the boom in recent decades.
The outbreak has subsequently lead to imposing travel bans aimed at stemming its spread, invariably trapping many Chinese students at home, unable to return to their foreign schools.
Clay Shirky, New York University vice provost for educational technologies, noted the institution is improvising in the short-term, plan for the long-term, and is on the way to starting classes for the semester at the New York City Shanghai campus.
He said:
Once we had short-term accommodations in place for students who wouldn’t be able to get back to the US, video conferencing and the like we turned our attention to Shanghai campus. Its semester started later, so there was more lead time. That group also is well-acquainted with the design principles for online learning.
Shirky, further emphasis NTU’s commitment towards offering an online option to students who can’t get to Shanghai campus.
A student from the NYU Shanghai campus noted that most of the students are completely confused in trying to understand what we had to do.
Chinese students in foreign universities
According to a recent survey, Chinese students make up about one-third of international students in the US, and the new strain threatens that source of income.
The most recent data from the Chinese Ministry of Education pegged the number of students at overseas universities at 662,000 in 2018, up from 179,800 in 2008.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has grown so financially reliant on Chinese students’ tuition that it purchased an insurance policy to protect the university against a sudden drop in Chinese student enrollment caused by a political event, visa issue, or health scare.
Many other foreign Universities in Canada and Australia also depend on international students, who inject billions of dollars into the economy and help create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Interestingly, Chinese students make up the most significant fraction of the international student body in each country, one-third of Canada’s and almost half of Australia’s.
Notably, the current situation has also pushed schools to address racism directed at students of Asian descent and to prepare for the possibility that the virus will hit their campus.
Students still departing from NYU Shanghai campus
Even with the new addition to accommodate students in the NYU Shanghai campus, over 300 full-time students have opted to leave for NYU’s campuses outside of China because of the Coronavirus.
Alec Liu, a sophomore in NYU’s Stern School of Business, decided to return to the US, along with many of his classmates, because he did not want to take remote classes and he was worried about the possibility of being quarantined or not being able to go outdoors in Shanghai.
