The Chinese Government announced last week that it has banned citizens from studying online at foreign universities, requiring all Chinese students enrolled to study online with overseas providers to be on campus for semester one, 2023. But on Sunday 5 February, China’s education ministry released another statement saying that if students could not get a visa in time, or could not find a flight or accommodation, they could seek an exemption from the rule when getting their degree certified. Students who had already selected online study for the coming semester and were unable to switch to face-to-face study were also eligible to seek a waiver.
The statement said that students can continue to take online classes during the relevant procedures. “It is recommended to keep the visa appointment record, the flight cancellation certificate, the reply from the accommodation institution and other relevant certification materials, and submit them together when applying for certification.”
At the time of the announcement, there were about 40,000 Chinese nationals with student visas for Australia who have remained offshore, 8,000 of whom had visas due to expire by 30 June.
The Australian Education Minister, Jason Clare, said that the changes will create challenges with "students getting on flights, getting visas, getting accommodation, but … we’re putting in place all the measures that we can to assist with visa processing.”
With these changes, finding accommodation may become a problem. We've listed some resources below that may be able to help:
For more information on what your specific university offers, you can visit the links below:
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Information sourced from: The Guardian and News.com.au.
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