26 April: The University of Nottingham Ningbo China re-opens after postponing the spring semester for two months due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. The first group of students to return includes postgraduate students, all year four students and year two and year three students of the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
The first shuttle bus to pick up a returning student from the train station arrived on campus at 9:30am. Bowen Zhang, a year four student of Chemical Engineering and the only passenger of the bus, said that she took the earliest train from Nanjing to Ningbo today. “It was great to see the Trent Building again. I miss UNNC so much!” She said that the pickup services and volunteers on campus made the whole trip easy and reassuring.
Yuhao Chen, a year four student from Computer Sciences, also took the earliest flight of the day from Haikou to Ningbo. “This is my first time to take such a shuttle bus by myself,” he said that despite the tiring trip, he was eager to make the longed-for return to campus and work on his coursework.
Students arriving by car, are also completing the necessary epidemic prevention checks as part of the registration process. Provost Nick Miles, along with other University leaders, had been waiting there early in the morning to welcome them back.
According to Tom Murphy, the Chief Financial and Planning Officer of UNNC, currently all Chinese staff are back working at UNNC and over 70% of international academic staff are back on campus having completed the procedures of nucleic acid detection and isolation and are ready to teach the students.
Besides procedures at the campus gates, the University has also implemented further epidemic prevention and control methods in buildings on campus including dormitories and canteens. The elevators are divided into four areas to carry 4 people maximum at one time; there are designated entrances and exits to the canteen; each table is set for two students only with a screen in between. All public areas are disinfected regularly.
To ensure the safe and smooth progress of receiving returning students, the University has also carried out an online volunteer recruitment activity, and received numerous sign-ups from students and staff. Yiwen Wang, a year one student from International Economics and Trade and one of the first group of volunteers, came back two days ago to receive the nucleic acid test and relevant training. She started work at 8am as a volunteer guiding and reminding students through the temperature check and registration processes. “During the epidemic period, I have been volunteering in my own residential quarter. I did not hesitate to sign up as this is a good opportunity to do something for my university.”
As the first Sino-foreign University to re-open, the University has undertaken comprehensive preparation to welcome students and resume our classroom-based learning. We will have over two thousand students back at UNNC by 29 April.