Universities cancel graduation ceremonies due to virus

Dozens of universities in South Korea are delaying or cancelling graduation ceremonies due this month because of fears of coronavirus spreading. The Ministry of Education said last week that 112 students and staff, half of them Koreans, had been in China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus crisis.

Some universities, among them Gachon University, Konkuk University, University of Ulsan, Yonsei University, Inha University and Chung-Ang University, have said they are delaying their graduation ceremonies that are usually held in February until July and August.

Chungnam National University in Daejeon has allowed individual departments the discretion to decide whether to go ahead with graduation ceremonies on condition that the gathering involves fewer than 100 people and does not include visitors such as parents and relatives.

Sangmyung University has said it will also limit numbers at its graduation event this month and distribute videos of the ceremony instead.

But the disruption could mean that many graduates this year could forgo their graduation event. Medical school graduates in particular have said they would be unable to attend graduation ceremonies in July or August due to hospital internship commitments.

Some 69,200 Chinese students were enrolled in South Korean colleges and universities in 2019, or just over 43% of all international students, according to the ministry. Universities have been asked to put measures in place to keep tabs on the whereabouts of international students.

Ministry guidance

After the ministry issued guidance to universities at the end of January not to hold group events, many universities cancelled entrance ceremonies, orientation programmes and visitor tours of campuses that involve large groups.

Some universities such as Sogang University in Seoul cancelled its graduation and commencement ceremonies and also delayed the beginning of the new semester, originally scheduled for 2 March, to the middle of March.

Under current education laws universities can postpone reopening for a maximum of two weeks without rescheduling classes; beyond that the ministry can advise universities to reduce vacation time to counter the disruption to classes.

Last week Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae issued a recommendation that universities delay classes, with universities to decide how long to postpone the new semester for depending on the proportion of their student body that is international students, including Chinese nationals.

According to Korean ministry figures, some 9,582 Chinese students arrived in South Korea in the two weeks after Chinese authorities locked down the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, which is the epicentre of the outbreak of the virus now known officially as COVID-19.

South Korea imposed an entry ban from 4 February on foreigners who have travelled through or from Hubei province since 21 January.

Yoo told university officials at an emergency meeting in late January: “Infectious disease management for Chinese students and visitors is directly related to the safety of the entire nation.”

The ministry has set up a special task force to deal with and support international students affected by the virus. It is led by the education ministry and includes the ministries of health, justice (responsible for immigration), foreign affairs, security, and science and technology.

This week the education ministry announced that tuition fees would only apply from the actual start of the semester, and attendance criteria for scholarship holders will be made more flexible.

Soonchunhyang University, a private university, said it was also postponing the start of the semester until mid-March.

“We are closely responding to the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases in accordance with government guidelines. We are conducting intensive preventive measures throughout the campus, cancelling events where a large number of people gather on campus, such as the whole faculty meetings, and establishing a preventive measures situation room in the student union,” a university spokesperson said.

Special monitoring measures

The spokesperson added that the university had in particular put in place special measures to monitor Chinese international students and visitors. Student exchanges with sister universities in China have also been cancelled.

The university said thermal imaging cameras would be installed at some dormitories and disinfection of all buildings on campus would be stepped up.

The prestigious Seoul National University has said it will separate Chinese students deemed at risk of the disease by moving them all to one dormitory building on the university’s southern Seoul campus, with local students being moved to other buildings. The university said in a statement that some 150 Chinese students would be affected, including students returning more recently from China.

However, as the students did not carry the virus, they would not be barred from shared facilities such as university cafeterias, the university said.

Other universities have emailed their Chinese students asking them to delay their return. Inje University in Busan advised its 73 Chinese students to postpone their return from China to the end of the month.

About 150 to 200 Chinese students attending Daejin University in Pocheon, north of Seoul, have been asked not to buy airplane tickets until notified by the university, while 600 Chinese students at Busan University of Foreign Studies have been asked not to return to campus until March, Yonhap news agency reported.