Chinese students

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China cautions students about ‘racist incidents’ during coronavirus pandemic if they return to Australia

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Asia/ China/ 09.06.2020/ Source: www.abc.net.au.

 

China’s Education Bureau has taken the rare step of warning Chinese students about studying in Australia when campuses are set to resume classes in July due to «racist incidents» during the coronavirus pandemic.

In its statement, the education ministry reminded «overseas students to conduct a good risk assessment and be cautious about choosing to go to Australia or return to Australia to study.»

The notice also warned students that coronavirus still presents a risk if they plan to resume their studies overseas.

There are more Chinese students at Australian universities than from any other overseas country.

Most international students returned home or were unable to enter Australia when the Federal Government banned travel from several countries, including China, in February.

About 1.5 million university students are expected to be back on campus in July to resume face-to-face tutorials.

But the Chinese Education Bureau’s notice, which has been published widely in Chinese state media, warns students about «racist incidents against Asians» during the coronavirus crisis.

In response to the announcement, Education Minister Dan Tehan rejected the assertion that Australia is unsafe for international students.

«Australia is a popular destination for international students because we are a successful, multicultural society that welcomes international students and provides a world-class education,» he said in a statement to the ABC.

«Our success at flattening the [coronavirus] curve means we are one of the safest countries in the world for international students to be based in right now.»

Chinese students say they have faced discrimination

Two Chinese students already studying in Sydney told the ABC the Education Bureau’s warning would not have any effect on their study plans.

«I’ve heard of racist incidents but I haven’t been out much during the pandemic so personally I haven’t been affected,» said Sydney University student Yu Yan.

Another student based in Hobart, Michelle Ren also had heard of recent racism but hadn’t personally been affected.

«It’s not common, it’s very few people who do that and very few who experience that,» she said.

«But I have a lot of friends and family in China who are worried. They ask me what the real situation is in Australia.

«They are quite worried. The relationship between China and Australia is not that good so it might negatively affect students thinking about coming here.»

China also warned tourists to stay away from Australia

The relationship between Australia and China appears to have shifted in the last few months after the Federal Government proposed an international inquiry into how the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan.

Since then, China has since imposed tariffs on some Australian imports, including barley.

This is the second Chinese Government agency in a week to warn citizens about Australia.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a travel alert to its citizens on June 6 about the dangers of travelling to Australia due to a «significant increase» in racist attacks on «Chinese and Asian people».

«Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asian people in Australia have seen a significant increase,» the statement said.

On a bright blue day, you see an Asian woman in bright pink take a selfie in front of one of the Sydney Opera House sails.
Chinese tourists have been warned against travel to Australia due to «racist» incidents against Asians during the pandemic.(Reuters: David Munoz)

But Australian Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said the Chinese Government’s claims about the dangers for tourists were false.

«We reject China’s assertions in this statement, which have no basis in fact,» he said.

«Australia is enjoying world-leading success in suppressing the spread of COVID-19 and, when the health advice allows, we look forward to again welcoming visitors from all backgrounds to our safe and hospitable nation.»

There have been reports of people of Asian appearance experiencing increased racism in the wake of COVID-19.

In April, two Melbourne University students were allegedly verbally abused and physically assaulted after a pair of women screamed «coronavirus» at them and told them to get out of the country.

The two warnings from government agencies come as China launches a propaganda blitz through its state media, lashing Australia for its «attitude» towards China.

China’s nationalistic tabloid, The Global Times, has led the way, with frequent articles putting all blame for the deteriorating ties on Australia.

It has cited everything from Australian concerns about the political situation in Hong Kong and the South China Sea to banning Huawei from 5G and more recently calling for an independent inquiry into coronavirus.

Source of the news: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-09/china-warns-students-not-to-return-to-australia-after-coronaviru/12337044

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Chinese high school students have highest preference for college education

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Asia/ China/ 19.05.2020/ Source: www.china.org.cn.

Nearly 90 percent of Chinese high school students intend to pursue higher education, according to recent research by the China Youth and Children Research Center.

The research, jointly conducted with research institutions from the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), aims to compare the learning performance of high school students in the four countries.

It was based on a survey covering 3,903 high school students from China, 1,521 from America, 2,204 from Japan and 1,618 from the ROK.

About 88 percent of Chinese respondents planned to go to college after graduation, 5.5 percentage points higher than those from the United States who ranked second in the survey.

However, they were not as confident as American high school students when it came to the evaluation of their overall learning performance and efficiency.

The survey also found that Chinese high school students were the most independent and best at following the rules, but not as initiative and communicative as their American counterparts.

Only 2.8 percent of Chinese students intended to start working after graduating from high school, compared with 6.6 percent of Korean students.

Source of the notice: http://www.china.org.cn/china/2020-05/14/content_76044223.htm

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China to relax its internet restrictions for 100,000 students hit by Australia’s coronavirus travel ban

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Asia/ China/ 18.02.2020/ Source: www.theguardian.com.

China has agreed to relax its internet restrictions, after lobbying from the higher education sector, so international students can study online while they are banned from Australia during the coronavirus outbreak.

Currently more than 100,000 Chinese students, who already have Australian student visas and were planning on commencing their studies this month, are stranded outside of Australia as a result of the government’s 14-day travel ban from mainland China.

On Wednesday, Australia’s Global Reputation Taskforce – an emergency council of universities and education providers – met with education minister Dan Tehan and trade minister Simon Birmingham to discuss how they could limit the potential $8bn hit to the economy.

Phil Honeywood, the chair of the taskforce, told Guardian Australia the ministers had secured new pathways for online courses – which would let isolated students keep their Australian enrolments.

But he warned that a visa approval freeze means Australia could “absolutely lose out” to competitors as Chinese students could easily “go down the road” and obtain student visas for the US, the UK or Canada instead.

The government has not yet announced if the travel ban will be extended by another fortnight, but education providers are “not optimistic” and preparing for the worst.

Honeywood, who is also the head of the International Education Association of Australia, said internet restrictions would be lifted for students, so they could reach university portals for lecture recordings and slides, among other sites.

“There have been challenges over many years with online learning into China but the Chinese government has acknowledged that a more effectual arrangement is appropriate because of the isolation,” he said.

“We’ve been able to make good progress on online learning options into China. There have been really worthwhile negotiations with the Chinese embassy. A number of platforms have been agreed to to deliver online courses to students who are offshore still.

“Not all courses will be suited to online delivery. There will be issues with which units of study can be provided, for what period of time. [But] it is definitely a better situation than we were facing a couple of weeks ago.”

But the universities are concerned that new visa delays, combined with the travel ban, mean Australia could lose out to other countries.

New student visa approvals have been frozen by the department of home affairs since 1 February, even for students who have already been accepted by Australian universities.

Acting immigration minister Alan Tudge confirmed to the Australian that the department was “not finalising applications for individuals currently in mainland China” due to “enhanced border measures”.

International students contributed $34bn to the Australian economy last year. Australia’s main competitors for Chinese students, Canada, the US and the UK run on a different academic year, starting in September, meaning they are less disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak this year.

“The issue we have got is visas allegedly bring processed but not approved,” Honeywood said.

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If you’re a student, and you can’t get an Australian student visa to travel, any time you can go down the road to the Canadian embassy or the US embassy and they are still happily approving visas.

“Chinese students, even if they can’t travel to Australia now, once they have been given a student visa to come and study in Australia, they can once the virus is contained.

“But because no visas have been approved, they are thinking ‘How long is this going on for? Even when the virus is contained, I can’t come to Australia to study because of the whole visa process. I’ll go to Canada and the UK and delay my start date.’”

Honeywood said education minister Tehan was working with immigration minister Tudge “to get some clarification about what might be possible in that visa approval space”.

Meanwhile, individual universities are also offering alternate course schedules for affected students. Melbourne’s Monash University has already pushed back the start date of its semester by a week, while the ANU in Canberra has announced a semester during the traditional winter break to allow Chinese students to catch up on courses.

Other universities, such as the University of New South Wales, have recently changed to a trimester system, and are encouraging students to defer their enrolment to the next trimester, which starts around the beginning of June.

Honeywood said the universities “have to abide by the chief medical officer’s determination” on the length of the travel ban, but that Australia’s higher education sector was uniquely vulnerable to the delay.

“More than other study destination country, we are caught by geographic location and the fact that our academic year starts at the start of the calendar year,” he said.

“Whereas our main competitors, like Canada, the US and UK, their academic year doesn’t start until later, in September. They aren’t faced with a large influx of Chinese students wanting to commence studies until later this year. Australia and New Zealand are in a particular set of circumstances which no other competitor study destinations have.”

Source of the notice: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/13/china-to-open-up-its-internet-for-100000-students-hit-by-australias-coronavirus-travel-ban

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Two-thirds of Australia’s Chinese students ‘stuck at home’

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Asia/ China/ 04.02.2020/ Source: www.timeshighereducation.com.

Almost two-thirds of Australian universities’ Chinese students are currently abroad, new government data show, in an indication of the scale of the financial hit confronting the sector if the coronavirus crisis persists.

Education minister Dan Tehan released statistics showing that of the almost 190,000 Chinese residents with valid Australian student visas on 1 February – when the government banned foreign nationals entering from China, in a bid to curb the outbreak’s spread – about 157,000 were higher education students.

Of these, 62 per cent were overseas and faced a wait of at least two weeks – and possibly much longer – before being allowed into Australia.

The figures suggest that Australian universities may be about to experience the worst fears of those who have warned against their financial reliance on Chinese students’ fees.

A paper released last year by University of Sydney sociologist Salvatore Babones, who focused his research on seven Australian universities, found that they had derived between 13 per cent and 23 per cent of their income from Chinese students in 2017. Since then, the number of visas granted to Chinese higher education students has increased by about 6 per cent.

Institutional and auditor-general’s reports released since Dr Babones conducted his analysis suggest that the two universities most financially exposed to Chinese students – the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney – respectively obtained 26 per cent and 27 per cent of their revenue from this source in 2018.

UNSW’s main campus is unusually quiet for this time of year, devoid of the groups of orienting Chinese students that normally circulate in February – a scene replicated at universities across the country.

UNSW vice-chancellor Ian Jacobs last year said that his university had set up a contingency fund to “buy…an extra few months” in the event of a sudden loss of Chinese students, but said he would have to rapidly decrease spending on staff and infrastructure if the crisis lasted longer.

In a 4 February press conference, Mr Tehan said the government and universities had committed to “maximum flexibility” to help Chinese students stranded overseas.

He brushed off questions over whether Chinese students would be entitled to refunds if they could not study in Australia, and whether the government would consider helping universities meet the consequent “shortfall”.

“Let’s wait and see what the impact is of the coronavirus over the next fortnight, the next month, the next quarter, before we start looking at things like that,” he said.

“Let’s deal with getting in place the online learning, the remote learning. Let’s make sure we’re dealing with all those students who are already here in Australia and making sure their welfare is being looked after.”

Some Chinese students have scoffed at online learning as a viable solution, citing internet restrictions at home.

Mr Tehan also declined to estimate the dollar cost of the crisis while acknowledging international education as a “key” export for Australia. “We have to wait and see the extent of the virus…before we can examine this data and get a true understanding.

“What we’ve seen from Sars [severe acute respiratory syndrome] was that the bounce back in the international education sector was quick and immediate. Things have changed since Sars, but that is the information that we can go on historically.”

Source of the notice: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/two-thirds-australias-chinese-students-stuck-home

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Coronavirus shuts down nearly 340 schools in S. Korea

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Asia/ South Korea/ 03.02.2020/ Source: www.koreaherald.com.

According to the Ministry of Education, 245 kindergartens, 53 elementary schools, 21 middle schools, 16 high schools and one special-education school postponed reopening following the month-long winter vacation or halted operations to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.

Most of the schools affected by the virus are in Suwon, Bucheon or Goyang in Gyeonggi Province, Gunsan in North Jeolla Province and in Seoul, where those infected with the virus have come from or visited.

Schools in areas considered to be vulnerable to the spread of the virus are now allowed to make a decision at their discretion on whether to temporarily close doors through prior consultations with regional educational authorities.

Education authorities in Suwon and Bucheon ordered all kindergartens and some elementary and middle and high schools in the cities to close for a week.

Authorities in Goyang recommended closure for all its kindergartens in the city for one week. However, only nine out of 157 kindergartens were closed, which led the ministry to revise the total number of kindergartens from 393 to 245 in the afternoon.

In Seoul, a total of nine schools — one kindergarten, three elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools — were temporarily shut.

In Gunsan, all kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools were ordered to close for two weeks.

Nurseries in Taean in South Chungcheong Province, Gunsan in North Jeolla Province and cities in Gyeonggi Province — Suwon, Bucheon, Pyeongtaek, Anyang and Goyang — were closed starting Monday.

Amid growing fears over the further spread of the virus upon Chinese students’ return to Korea for a new semester, the ministry said it plans to review whether to delay the reopening of universities this week.

There were an estimated 71,067 Chinese students studying at universities in Korea as of 2019, accounting for 44.4 percent of all foreign students here.

A total of 112 students and school officials are currently in self-imposed isolation after visiting the province, according to a survey of 242 universities by the ministry.

Meanwhile, 21 Korean students and school officials who visited China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the new coronavirus, less than two weeks ago remain in self-imposed isolation, as they are not showing any symptoms of the virus, according to the ministry.

Korea has confirmed 15 cases of the coronavirus that is believed to have originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, with 913 people having come into contact with those infected with the virus, according to health authorities.

Starting from Tuesday, South Korea will temporarily ban foreigners who have visited Hubei province within 14 days from entering the country, and everyone who came in contact with those infected with the virus will be required to quarantine themselves for two weeks.

The coronavirus outbreak has killed at least 362 people and infected more than 17,300 globally. There are now at least 179 confirmed cases of the virus in more than 27 countries and territories outside mainland China.

One person outside mainland China, a 44-year-old Chinese man in the Philippines, has died. Sweden and Spain reported those countries’ first cases over the weekend.

Source of the notice: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200203000896

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Freedom of speech concerns over drive to attract Chinese students

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Asia/ China/ 23.10.2018/ Source: www.rte.ie.

Chinese students offer a substantial financial reward for Irish universities. But some academics are concerned about what a greater dependence on revenue from China could mean for freedom of speech on campus, writesYvonne Murray

«I really miss the autumn in Beijing,» said Junhan Zhang, who is studying Irish at University College Dublin, «with the smell of roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts.»

«But Autumn in Dublin is wonderful too».

Junhan is one of the rising number of Chinese students in higher education in Ireland today.

Second only to the US in terms of students sent, China represents an important market for Ireland’s cash-strapped colleges.

It is one that a delegation of 11 universities and technical institutions, headed by the Minister of State for Training and Skills John Halligan is in Beijing to get a bigger slice of.

«The purpose of the visit is to further collaboration and cooperation with the Chinese education system» he said.

«We have 62 collaborative projects at present and we have signed four memorandums of understanding.

«We now have over 3,500 Chinese students coming to Ireland. The Chinese market is now worth €35.7 million annually.

«Our story resonates around the world – we are a small country, with a small population but a really big hitter in education,» he adds.

There were just over 1,300 study visas granted to Chinese students in 2013, rising to 2,216 last year.

Applications so far this year suggest a further 20% rise.

Many of the applicants enter via joint programmes with Chinese higher-level institutions.

John Halligan (C) with Mary Simpson Director of International Office AIT, Jack Meng, Director of Asia, Irish Ambassador Eoin O’Leary and Niall O’Donnellan Enterprise Ireland

UCD’s partnership with the Beijing University of Technology, established in 2012, sees about 40-50 Chinese students joining the science, technology and commerce departments annually, each paying fees and administration costs of between €14,000 – €16,000.

This week, Maynooth University will sign a memorandum of understanding with Fuzhou University, in the southern province of Fujian, bringing Ireland’s total number of joint partnerships with Chinese higher education institutions to five.

The Maynooth-Fuzhou joint college of engineering is expected to see 1,200 Chinese science and technology students graduate over the next four years.

Maynooth University is hoping it will lead to future research and innovation partnerships, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics.

The bite of funding cuts

Irish universities have been feeling the pinch of austerity for the past decade. Falling budgets and staff numbers have been blamed for a drop in the world rankings tables this year.

But Ireland could stand to gain from China’s current trade and political tensions with traditional study destinations such as the US and Australia.

«There are signs that Chinese students are becoming increasingly nervous about studying in the US, largely as a result of tightened immigration restrictions,» said Ellie Bothwell, the global rankings editor at Times Higher Education.

«Recent data also show that the number of Chinese people applying for Australian higher education visas has stalled.

«It has been suggested that visa problems and geopolitical tensions have played a factor in dampening interest.

«All this means that countries such as the UK and Ireland could see more university applications and enrolments from Chinese students in the near future,» she said.

The delegation this week is also keen to convey the message to China’s students that Ireland remains firmly within the EU, while its closest neighbour prepares to leave.

Academic freedom

But while an uptick in numbers could mean a substantial increase in fees – non-EU students pay three to four times as much in tuition as their European counterparts – some professors sound a note of caution.

«One concern about greater reliance on the Chinese market for fees is that it could prompt universities and their governing structures to be more accommodating should the Chinese authorities interfere in some way to curtail academic freedom,» said Alexander Dukalskis, assistant professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at UCD.

«We see some academic publishers that make money in the Chinese market, for example, adhere to the government’s censorship demands,» he said.

«It would be a problem if Irish universities perceived that they had to curtail academic freedom or engage in self-censorship to protect access to the Chinese student market.

«We ought to be very careful to never demonise Chinese students,» he added, «because we may not like some policies of the Chinese Communist Party.»

Restrictions on campus activities have tightened significantly in China in recent years, in line with a wider crackdown on civil society. In 2013, a document, reportedly aimed at «dangerous Western values» – which became known as the «Seven Speak Nots» – was posted online by a professor of law at a Shanghai university.

It revealed a government ban on teaching topics such as freedom of the press, human rights, judicial independence and past mistakes of the communist party. The professor, Zhang Xuezhong, was promptly dismissed from his teaching post.

Critics have accused China of attempting to also stifle debate abroad, via their Confucius Institutes – government-funded and controlled language and culture centres based on university campuses. As a result, several universities in Europe and North America have severed ties with the centres.

«The Chinese Communist Party views Confucius Institutes as a means to improve China’s image abroad,» said Prof Dukalskis.

«They are a very intentional and integral part of Beijing’s effort to cultivate a more amenable international environment for the CCP’s policies.

«Given that the Party, which ultimately controls Confucius Institutes, does not respect free academic inquiry domestically there ought to be major concerns about protecting academic freedom on campuses that host the institutes.

«For example, issues like repression in Xinjiang or Tibet, the policies and personal wealth of Xi Jinping, or the jailing of government critics are basically off-limits for academic inquiry in China and so universities abroad should be alert to the possibility that the Chinese Communist Party would seek to externalise censorship on these and similar issues,» he said.

«I am not aware of any such efforts in Ireland yet,» he added, «but there are troubling examples elsewhere that should stimulate awareness here»‘

The building of UCD’s Confucius Institute’s new premises has been stalled over a construction funding dispute.

On Friday in Beijing, Minister Halligan met with representatives of Hanban, the Confucius Institute’s governing body.

«We discussed it. We didn’t go into it in great detail,» he said, «we are engaged in further cooperation and collaboration over the next couple of weeks and months with them.»

When asked about what safeguards Irish universities have in place to protect academic freedom, he said: «We trust our universities and institutes of technology.

«I have ultimate faith, they do the right thing for their universities and for their country on that issue.»

Student life a long way from home

Fang Zhang has a PhD from Beijing Foreign Studies University and is studying Irish at UCD, on a Chinese government-sponsored scholarship.

«I understand it’s easy to have collisions in mutual understanding when it relates to politics,» he wrote in an email exchange, «but I feel myself as a patriot and I do not believe it is fair to criticise everything we are doing in China.»

«It is more complicated than Westerners believe,» he added. «It is easy to criticise the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government, but without it, China would never grow as a strong country.»

A long way from China, Fang sometimes gets homesick, «mostly because of the food,» he said.

It is a sentiment echoed by Junhan.

«I have problems adjusting to the cuisine,» she said, «it is too oily and sweet.»

Despite the culinary challenges, both students feel welcome in Ireland. «You scarcely see cold faces like in some other countries,» explains Fang.

They will spend two years at UCD before returning home to teach Irish in Beijing.

«For the second year here, I would love to live with an Irish family, » said Junhan. «It is better if they have pets, have interests towards China and Chinese culture.»

«And accept Chinese cooking,» she adds.

Source of the notice: https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2018/1021/1005637-china-students-ireland/

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Chinese students, made to study Communism, are rising up for workers’ rights

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By

In 1989, the Chinese government slaughtered pro-democracy student activists whose commitment to justice swept the nation; now they’re facing a new student uprising, one comprised of ardent Communist youth whose state-mandated education in the works of Marx, Lenin and Mao have prompted them to stand up for oppressed workers who labor in the for-profit factories that have flourished since the Deng reforms.

President Xi has pursued a program of increased, unchecked personal power and a movement away from western media influences; as part of this, Chinese curriculum has pursued a new emphasis on Communist literature.

The Communist students staged mass, illegal demonstrations in Huizhou in sympathy with a wildcat workers’ strike, bearing portraits of Mao, singing socialist anthems, and chanting «You are the backbone of the working class! We share your honor and your disgrace!»

On August 24, police cracked down on the students, arresting 50 organizers in raids as they sang «The Internationale» in Chinese. Some organizers remain in prison, accused of being secret agents of foreign powers.

Communist student movements are springing up all over China, and local police are cracking down on their leaders.

The dispute in Huizhou began in July, after Jasic Technology, a manufacturer of welding equipment, prevented its workers from forming an independent union. China allows labor organizing only under the auspices of the official, party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

The workers said managers had seized control of their branch of the official union. Complaining of being underpaid and treated like slaves, they began to organize a petition before the police intervened and detained several of them.

The young activists learned of the workers’ plight on internet messaging apps and took up their cause, with about 40 students and recent graduates going to Huizhou, a manufacturing hub of 4.8 million people in Guangdong Province. Hundreds of others spoke out in support online — so many that several universities warned students not to go to Huizhou

Source of the notice: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/01/with-chinese-characteristics.html

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