Advice for UK Education Institutions on Covid-19 impact in East Asia
Summary
At the British Council, the health and safety of all our visitors, staff and the communities in which we operate is our top priority. We support and cooperate with all local government agencies to put all necessary measures in place to ensure the continued well-being of all with whom we engage in the course of our operations.
This post is to keep UK institutions updated on disruptions across the East Asia region caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.
For travel advice, please refer to FCO updates, and we would encourage institutions who are considering travelling to sign up for alerts - https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We also strongly encourage visiting local government health websites to stay abreast of the prevailing health advisory and precautionary measures in any country.
For IELTS test arrangements as a result of Novel Coronavirus precautions, please see: https://www.ielts.org/news/2020/changes-to-ielts-test-arrangements-in-some-locations-due-to-novel-coronavirus.
We are monitoring the situation very closely and will continue to provide updates as the situation develops. Please find current information by country/territory as per below:
Key Updates
China: Most Chinese students have now returned to in-person study, with the majority of provinces having fully re-opened (Interruptions in Beijing and Autumn opening announced)
Hong Kong: With convention and tradeshow possibly resuming in early July, face-to-face student recruitment activities would be feasible over the summer.
Taiwan: Taiwan has gone over 8 straight weeks without any confirmed domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections (source). Government is planning to ease loosen social distancing and quarantine rules.
Thailand: Curfew has been lifted but the state of emergency continues. Phase 4 of the lockdown easing is now effective.
China
Updated 26 June
Most Chinese students have now returned to in-person study, with the majority of provinces having fully re-opened
As of 12 June, all of China’s 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have now reopened at least some of their schools. All regions’ reopening process has been based on a staggered schedule, starting with students in the 3rd (final) year of high school as well as those in their 3rd year of junior high school who are preparing for their Gaokao and Zhongkao exams respectively. In most parts of China primary and secondary schools are now open for students of all ages, although some areas such as the worst-affected province of Hubei are yet to completely reopen.
After reopening, schools continue to enforce requirements such as temperature checks and hand sanitisation on arrival and mandatory mask-wearing. All provinces and regions have also rescheduled their Gaokao university entrance exams to the 7th-8th of July, while most have also announced postponement of the Zhongkao high school entrance exam taken at age 15.
Interruptions happened in mid-June when Beijing raised its public health emergency response from the third to the second level due to the new cluster of local COVID-19 infections and the number of confirmed cases in the city exceeding 100 over the past five days. Beijing's education authority announced that all students in primary, junior high and senior high schools should stop on-campus classes starting and university students should stop returning to campus. Those who have to leave the city should first have negative nucleic acid test results no older than seven days.
Higher Education
In contrast to basic education, specific dates for universities’ reopening are set by the individual institution – provincial-level announcements set the earliest date that they can reopen rather than requiring them to reopen on that date. Universities in 23 provincial-level regions are now permitted to reopen for students in all years, while those in the remaining 8 regions - Beijing, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Liaoning, Ningxia, Shandong and Sichuan – can teach final-year students face-to-face but are not yet permitted to reopen for students at other levels.
As with primary and secondary schools, most HE institutions have been reopening on a staggered schedule, prioritising graduating students and to ensure them to complete graduation procedures scheduled in June. At East China Normal University in Shanghai, students need to submit applications at least three days before they arrive, explaining the reason for their return, detailing their itinerary and showing their green QR health codes. They also have to complete a health statement. Under the University’s current COVID-19 prevention measures, only graduating students and those with important research tasks can return. Some non-locals already in Shanghai could return from late April and those from Hubei can return to the campus after undergoing a 14-day quarantine at designated place in the University and pass nucleic acid and antibody tests. Some provinces including Heilongjiang, Qinghai and Shandong, and some universities in Sichuan, Liaoning and Shaanxi have announced that nucleic acid testing is necessary before students can return to their campuses.
Universities in Hubei province has also announced open for graduating students with stricter epidemic-control measures. Earlier this month, Wuhan University announced that it would allow graduating students with negative COVID-19 tests to return to campus, with the cost of the tests borne by the university. Graduating students are allowed to voluntarily return to the campus to process their school leaving procedures in two batches as most universities’ graduation season falls in June. Students must return to and leave the campus within the approved time, and those graduating students who choose not return to campus can entrust other students to process their school leaving procedures. Other non-graduating students and those in other countries haven't been approved to return yet. After returning, students are not allowed to go out of the campus and order food from outside during their stay at the university, and a dormitory room should house no more than 2 persons at the same period of time.
Most universities announced that the start of summer holidays will be scheduled in July, typically one or two weeks later than originally planned. Despite this change and Gaokao university entrance exams being delayed by one month, most universities are planning to open their campuses for all students in the coming September according to their usual schedule.
China’s National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) has rescheduled the College English Test (CET 4 and 6) from June 13th to two separate time slots respectively on July 11th and September 19th. Some provincial-level education departments will offer tests on both of these dates, while others have chosen to only offer tests in September. This might impact graduating students, as these tests are graduation requirements for students on all degree courses.
Comment by British Council International Education Services
UK institutions working with Chinese partners or recruiting Chinese students should be aware of current study arrangements in the country. For TNE providers, close discussions with partners are encouraged to support preparations for reopening of campuses and continued delivery of short term solutions including online delivery where campuses remain closed.
Sources:
http://www.moe.gov.cn/fbh/live/2020/51974/twwd/202005/t20200512_453147.html
China’s National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) postponed one month
This year’s National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) is postponed by one month to July 2020. The exams will be held on the 7 and 8 July, rather than starting from 7 June as originally scheduled.
All provinces except Hubei will follow these new dates.
Hubei has been granted permission to decide on its own timeline for the Gaokao, due to the severity of the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. Dates for the Gaokao in Hubei will be released in due course by the Ministry of Education.
Comment by British Council International Education Services
Gaokao results are usually published about three weeks after the examinations. In the last couple of years an increasing number of UK institutions have begun accepting Gaokao results for entry. Institutions who plan to accept students for 2020 based on Gaokao results will now need to wait until the end of July to be able to do so.
Institutions should consider reviewing their communication and messaging to any students who have offers based on Gaokao results to reassure them that entry will still be accepted.
Return dates have now been set for final-year high school students in most provinces so students will be able to return to school and prepare for the exams. For the latest details on provincial return dates please see here.
Source
Ministry of Education - Announcement on the 2020 National College Entrance Examination schedule (in Chinese): http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xxgk/s5743/s5744/202003/t20200331_436662.html
Chinese education authorities announce flexibility on overseas distance learning recognition during epidemic period
The Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE) - a body under the Ministry of Education - announced on April 3rd that it would relax its rules on the recognition of overseas distance-learning qualifications due to the current COVID-19 epidemic.
The announcement expressed CSCSE's "understanding and support" of overseas universities' measures to mitigate the epidemic, including online delivery and online thesis defence, and confirmed that these measures will not affect the recognition of overseas degrees even if this results in students' overseas study duration not meeting the stated requirements for their degree to be recognised in China.
Comment by British Council International Education Services
CSCSE is responsible for officially accrediting overseas degrees in China, and returning overseas graduates are required to register their degrees with CSCSE to confirm their validity.
The recent announcement confirms that overseas degrees will still be recognised even if universities' mitigation measures would mean that the course fails to meet CSCSE's recognition requirements (for example because students return to China and study remotely).
The British Council's discussion with CSCSE confirms that this policy will apply for the whole period of epidemic controls, including newly registered students if the epidemic continues into the next academic year.
However, it only applies to students who find themselves studying online as a result of their universities' COVID-19 mitigation measures. It should not be interpreted as a change in CSCSE's policy for the recognition of online delivery more broadly.
Market support
We are currently exploring alternative marketing and student recruitment solutions for UK institutions where on-the-ground activities in China have been affected by the outbreak.
Two digital campaigns in China are currently open for registration:
China Spring Media Campaign
Post Gaokao Virtual Clearing Exhibition
Hong Kong
Updated 22 June 2020
Public Events and Social Distancing
The Hong Kong government relaxed their public gathering regulations announcing that, from 19 June, up to 50 people can now gather in a public place. Group gatherings at catering business premises (e.g. hotel) would be exempted from the restriction on the number of persons at group gatherings. Event venue providers will be required to follow the government’s precautionary measures, including separating participants in different rooms or partitioned areas, each accommodating must not be over 50 people. These new arrangements will remain in place until 2 July. With the government's green light for two major local attractions reopened from 13 June and convention and tradeshow possibly resuming in early July, face-to-face student recruitment activities would be feasible over the summer.
Source: Coronavirus: Hong Kong to allow public gatherings of up to 50 people and scrap patron limits on restaurants, SCMP, 16.06.2020
Compulsory 14-day quarantine measure
The 14-day quarantine measure will be extended to 07 July for travellers from mainland China, Macau and Taiwan, and to 18 September for arrivals from overseas. Non-residents flying from other foreign countries are still not permitted to enter the city indefinitely.
Schools
Senior secondary students (from Form 3 to Form 5) have returned to schools since 27 May as planned; followed by the rest of younger secondary students and Primary Year 4 to Year 6 students to resume classes from 8 June. Finally, except the Early Years students, the remaining group of students have been returning to campuses on 15 June. As for international schools, all classes have resumed since 20 May.
In addition, it was also reported that local schools may shorten this year’s summer break by up to 3 weeks in order to catch up with the learning progress after 4 months of class suspensions. This may affect students’ plan to enrol on a summer course or camp overseas.
HKDSE Exam 2020
This year’s HKDSE exam was taken place between 24 April - 25 May. The tests were originally expected to begin on 27 March but were pushed back due to surge of Covid-19 infected cases in March. The oral tests of Chinese and English Languages were also cancelled. Around 46,000 school candidates registered for this year’s DSE exam, which is 5% fewer than the total number last year. Candidates are expected to receive their results on 22 July and offers from their chosen universities (JUPAS* results) on 13 August.
*Note: JUPAS in HK is equivalent to UCAS in the UK
Sources:
Announcement of 2020 JUPAS Main Round Offer Results, JUPAS, 11.03.2020
Hong Kong students finally begin delayed Diploma of Secondary Education university entrance exams after month’s delay, SCMP 24.04.2020
Coronavirus: some Hong Kong pupils return to school after four months of Covid-19 closures, SCMP 20.05.2020
Local Universities
Local publicly funded universities have suspended face-to-face teaching and switched to online for the Spring Term of the 2019/20. Many final exams have been set to be conducted online. Local student unions have urged universities to ensure assessments be fair and accessible to all students, in particular, those who are from vulnerable families (given the difficulties of online learning). Some options e.g. ‘late withdrawal’ and ‘pass-fail’ options have been commonly used amongst local universities. The latter means students would not receive letter grades and have the grades to be calculated towards their overall GPA. Currently, it has been offered by the University of Hong Kong, University of Science and Technology, and Education University.
According to local universities’ announcements regarding the arrangements for the Summer Term on their websites, with the situation of Covid-19 in HK being improved gradually, some local universities set to arrange face-to-face make-up classes for the summer. Meanwhile, due to social-distancing and travel restrictions imposed by the government, they plan to arrange online teaching at the same time for the new academic year to cater for latecomers from the mainland or abroad.
Source:
British Council Operations
The British Council office in Hong Kong has partially reopened since 02 March but remains closed to the public. For the most up-to-date information on our services, please visit our website: www.britishcouncil.hk/en/covid-19
We are of course happy to hold meetings with the UK Education sector by means of Skype calls.
Travel restrictions in summary
Non-Hong Kong residents will be denied entry into HK
HK residents and valid HK visa holders must be self-isolated for 14 days after returning home
Transit flight services at Hong Kong International Airport resumed from 01 June
Sources:
Press release: Government enhances disease prevention and control measures with reference to WHO's advice, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)
Coronavirus: more Hong Kong businesses to reopen as city eases social-distancing measures, SCMP 26.05.2020
Centre for Health Protection (CHP), HKSAR
Macau
Updated 22 June
Senior and junior secondary schools resumed classes on 4 May and 11 May respectively. Primary 4 to 6 resumed classed on 25 May. For resumption of classes in kindergartens, remaining primary classes and special education schools, it will be announced later in accordance with the epidemic situation.
Staring from 25 March, all foreign nationals and residents of the mainland China/Hong Kong SAR/region of Taiwan who have visited any overseas countries in the past 14 days will be denied entry to Macao until further notice.
In light of increasing infection cases of Covid-19 in Beijing, travellers who have been to Beijing in the past 14 days are required to undergo a 14-day medical observation at the designated health centres from 17 June.
Source:
News from Government Information Bureau , 25.05.2020
https://www.ssm.gov.mo/apps1/PreventCOVID-19/en.aspx#clg17458
Prevention of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia – Advice for Travellers, Macau SAR
Contact: Anna Lee anna.lee@britishcouncil.org.hk or Karen Hsu karen.hsu@britishcouncil.org.hk
Indonesia
Updated 25 June
Large scale strict social restrictions and social distancing remain in place to counter the spread of Covid-19. However, the government has decided to ease restrictions for some industries to counter the impact of Covid-19 on the economy.
The most significant feature in the transitional PSBB is the limitation of visitors or workers to 50 percent for all re-opened sectors. The Jakarta administration has prepared two stages for the transitional PSBB. The first stage allows relaxation of businesses, houses of worship, social and cultural activities and mobility of vehicles. A policy to stop the re-opening is in place if the number of cases surges.
Schools and Universities
The Education and Culture Ministry has announced that Indonesia will allow phased re-opening of schools located in Covid-19 low-risk areas, or “green zones”, starting in July. During the initial stage, the ministry will only allow senior and junior high schools to reopen. Elementary schools will be able to follow suit two months later, while kindergartens will open another four months later.
Sources:
https://en.tempo.co/read/1353877/elementary-schools-wont-reopen-in-july-nadiem-makarim
https://en.tempo.co/read/1354066/schools-open-in-green-zones-govt-parents-permission-necessary
https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2020/06/20/back-to-school-for-some.html
State and private universities plan to open in August and continue with classes either online or in person based on government directives closer to the dates of opening.
Indonesia is set to conduct this year’s computer-based exam (UTBK), part of the annual state university entrance test (SBMPTN), in two phases because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source:
Travel requirements
There has been a significant increase in the number of passengers for domestic and international flights, after the government relaxed restrictions on air travel. A recently issued Transportation Ministry circular allowed an increase in the number of passengers to 70 percent of the aircraft capacity, up from the previous 50 percent.
Source:
Public events
Large scale public gatherings are not allowed. All businesses being allowed a conditional re-opening are subject to strict social distancing measures as per government requirements.
British Council Activity
British Council staff are working from home as offices remain closed.
Contact: Saman Imtiaz, saman.imtiaz@britishcouncil.org.my
Japan
Updated 26 May
Latest news
The Japanese Government lifted the state of emergency for Tokyo and four other prefectures on 25 May, the last remaining region in the country to be subject to restrictions.
On 19 June, Japan completely lifted its request for people not to travel across prefectural lines, with the move met by a return of passengers to airports and train stations.
As of 27 May, the Government of Japan will deny entry to Japan for any non-Japanese nationals who have been to the UK in the last 14 days, other than in exceptional circumstances. These measures also apply to people who live in Japan but are temporarily out of the country.
Japan has suspended its visa waiver system for anyone travelling on a British Citizen or British National (Overseas) passport until at least the end of June 2020.
Public Events
Many large-scale events, including study abroad fairs, across the country remain cancelled. Most of the events are done online instead.
Schools and Universities
Schools in many regions across the nation reopened from the first week of June still with staggered attendance, following the government’s lifting of the state of emergency on 25 May.
British Council Activities
We are keen to support your continued engagement with Japan and are exploring alternative ways to profile institutions and to help you connect with prospective students and their families.
A Predeparture Information webinar will be held in July to inform the Japanese students about current UK university status. Details hasbeen shared via this website beginning to gain attendees from all over Japan.
Contact
Tomoko Kawakita, Head of Education, British Council Japan - tomoko.kawakita@britishcouncil.or.jp
Malaysia
Updated 25 June
Government Response
The Malaysian government introduced the Recovery Movement Control Order from 10 June till 31 August. The RMCO allows additional relaxation of the movement control order. Inter-state travel is now allowed except for areas where there is still risk and those locations are under the Enhanced Movement Control Order. The additional relaxation for economic and business sectors is currently being allowed only under strict conditions and enforcement of stringent health standard operating procedures. Selected social activities are now allowed under strict operating procedures. Activities that pose a risk for spread of Covid-19 remain closed till further notice.
Source:
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/06/598700/cmco-end%C2%A0replaced-rmco-until-aug-31
Public Events
The restricted movement order remains in place for large-scale events. Health authorities in Malaysia have advised against organising any events (mass gathering of 50 people and above) for six months to a year even after the period of movement restriction. However, activities that do not draw large gatherings or close contact are now allowed under certain conditions.
Schools and Universities
The Ministry of Higher Education announced on 27 May that all lectures will be delivered online till the end of 2020. Exceptions will be considered for selected categories of students. These may include postgraduate research students who need physical access to campus facilities, final year students who have clinical or practical lab components to complete, students with special needs and new students for intake of 2020-21 session.
Source:
Based on government directives, campuses have planned to re-open for teaching. Students will be allowed on campus for only urgent or essential work or support required and will follow strict measures of social distancing.
Sources:
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2020/05/24/new-semester-conducted-online/
https://www.nst.com.my/education/2020/05/594061/varsities-go-online-welcome-new-students
Schools opened for Form 5 and Form 6 (year 11 & 12 respectively) on 24 June. Classes will be as per a staggered schedule, with operating procedures such as maximum 20 students to a class, students seated at a distance from each other and other social distancing measures in place on campus. The Ministry of Education released the amended school academic calendar on 23 June for the current year. There is a reduction in the number of mid-semester holidays and the year-end holidays – the calendar has been amended to support teaching and learning for the current year.
Sources:
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/06/602962/back-school
Travel Restrictions
The Malaysian government has announced that international students will now be allowed to enter Malaysia and resume their studies at Malaysian institutions. There are requirements for international students to Malaysia to register with the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Higher Education. International students arriving in Malaysia may be required to undergo a quarantine period subject to where they are arriving from.
Sources:
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-wants-international-students-to-return
British Council Activities
British Council staff are currently working from home. The slight relaxation of the movement control order has allowed a few selected teams to be in the office with strict social distancing measures in place.
Contact: Saman Imtiaz, saman.imtiaz@britishcouncil.org.my
Singapore
Updated 25 June
The Singapore government has a three phased approach for the relaxation of the ‘circuit-breaker’ and related social distancing measures for the post Covid-19 environment.
Phase One: Phase 1 began on 1 June with the resumption of selected services and the staggered re-opening of schools. During this phase, graduating cohorts attended face-to-face classes daily, while the other levels alternated between a week of home-based learning and a week of face-to-face classes.
Phase Two: Singapore is now in Phase 2 which began on 19 June. From 29 June onwards, all students will begin attending daily face-to-face lessons. Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) will gradually increase the number of students back on campus for face-to-face learning.
Most businesses have also resumed, although working from home is strongly encouraged wherever possible. All safe management practices remain in place. Social gatherings are permitted in groups of five. This Phase is expected to continue for 2-3 months, before the final Phase 3.
Phase Three: Phase three will feature limited size gatherings, seniors being allowed to resume day-to day activities under measures of physical distancing among other practices of risk mitigation.
Source:
Educational institutions
As Singapore initiated relaxation of the ‘circuit breaker’ in June, there are various measures being introduced for students.
Students of higher learning will observe the following approach from June onwards:
Polytechnic Institutions: lectures will continue to be delivered online; students will be allowed on campus for only lab and practical work.
Institutes of Technical Education: students will rotate weekly between online and on-campus learning.
Autonomous universities: Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design students will continue with online learning and will be allowed on campus only for lab and practical work. Other autonomous universities will be on vacation at this time.
Sources:
https://www.moe.gov.sg/addressing-top-covid-19-concerns
For students of higher education, the focus is largely on employability of new graduates who would soon be entering the workforce. The SG United Traineeship Programme aims to create up to 21,000 trainee opportunities for the 2019/2020 graduating cohorts of the ITE, polytechnics and universities.
Source: https://www.wsg.gov.sg/SGUnitedTraineeships-Trainees.html
The IHLs are also offering new courses and professional qualifications to boost graduates’ employability by enhancing their skills and versatility. The ITE has entered into a three-year partnership with LinkedIn to teach students how to brand and market themselves to potential employers.
Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/help-for-ite-students-to-market-themselves
Some polytechnics have revamped their curriculum to offer more multi-disciplinary project options in the first year of study and to increase industry relevance of the course content.
Universities will re-open in August for the new academic year. Lessons are likely to be a blend of face-to-face and digital, depending on the situation at the time. However, fully online classes are unlikely to be the norm.
Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/how-the-pandemic-will-change-universities
Students considering overseas studies are keeping their options open and awaiting further details and clarity from popular study destinations including the UK.
Public events
Non-essential public gatherings remain prohibited. There is some relaxation for activities like worship, weddings with a limit to number of people being five or ten for different activities as per government rules.
Source:
The Ministry of Health in Singapore provides a regularly updated status report on the daily situation for all at https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19
Contact: Saman Imtiaz, saman.imtiaz@britishcouncil.org.my
South Korea
Updated on 25 June
The country is going through a second wave of coronavirus, despite recording relatively low numbers. It has recorded just over 12,000 infections and fewer than 280 deaths while avoiding a national lockdown. It has relied on voluntary social distancing measures alongside an aggressive track, trace, and test strategy to combat the virus.[1]
Schools
Schools in Korea have completed a three-week phased physical reopening as of 8 June. Elementary and middle schools are required to cap the number of students at one-third of the total student body and high schools at two-thirds to keep students at a safe distance from each other. The measure is extended until the end of the first semester, likely between mid-July to mid-August.[2]
Some schools had to shut down when new infections surged in the area temporarily. However, there has been no official announcement for the school infection case yet.
The critical changes in academic schedules can be found here: https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/school-opening-korea-postponed-again-due-2nd-wave-of-infection
Higher Education
Most universities restarted in late March after up to four weeks of postponement, but mainly offering online courses. The Ministry of Education decided not to apply the regulation stipulating a 20% limit to remote classes delivered by regular universities in the 2020 spring semester.[3]
The higher educational institutions in Korea are now in a dilemma: to proceed with remote exams with a risk of cheating or to put students' safety at risk with a face-to-face measure. [4]
Seoul-based Konkuk University has decided to partially refund tuition fees in the form of a tuition cut for the fall semester while the student's voices for tuition refunds keep growing.[5]
Sources:
Korea Government’s official website for the Covid-19 http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53135626
[2] http://yna.kr/AEN20200623007500315
[3] http://edu.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2020/02/12/2020021202662.html (Korean)
[4] http://yna.kr/AEN20200616005600315
[5] http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200621000222
Contact: Heather Eom sunhyun.eom@britishcouncil.org
Taiwan
Updated 24 June
Taiwan reported no new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus on early 24 June, leaving the total number of cases at 446 since the pandemic began at the end of December, but later announced that it would hold an additional briefing at 5:30 p.m. regarding the patient in Japan, who was possibly infected in Taiwan, according to the Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) (source).
Taiwan from Sunday 7 June to ease rules on without wearing masks if you are outside or on public transportation, it’s better to maintaining social distance 1.5m. There are no longer any restrictions on the number of people in arts and cultural activities. For information on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Taiwan, please visit the Taiwan Centres for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov.tw/En
Most public large events like exhibition or show are currently remained cancelled but various events and activities are ruled that the number of participants should not exceed 100, but it will still maintain temperature measures when entering the venue, alcohol spraying, and wearing masks.
Schools and Universities
The Central Epidemic Command Center announced since March that students and teachers at senior and junior high schools as well as elementary schools around Taiwan will all be prohibited from overseas travel until the end of the current semester, which is scheduled to end on July 14. International students travel ban and Ministry of Education will review the policy by 15 July.
This academic semester will be ended on 15 July.
The National University Entry Exam of Advanced Subjects Test is continuing to happen in July, the dates changed to 3 – 5 July.
Most schools and universities graduation are happening in June.
All classes for university sectors remain in normal operations, all the international events/exhibitions are suspended.
The teacher who teaches the large class at the university, the class is divided into small classes or by distance teaching.
Based on the Assessment by the Central Epidemic Command Centre. The Ministry of Education Prioritised the Return of Graduating Students from Low-risk Countries to the Republic of China (Taiwan) to Study in August
For information on the MoE of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Taiwan, please visit the News Updates on Ministry of Education Taiwan website at https://english.moe.gov.tw/lp-117-1.html
Travel Restrictions in summary
Taiwan to allow foreign nationals to apply for non-tourist entry (update)
All eligible passengers entering Taiwan must undergo 14 days of home quarantine
Foreign nationals are not permitted to enter Taiwan
No passengers are permitted to transit through Taiwan
Sources:
https://english.moe.gov.tw/cp-117-24066-b99d8-1.html
https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202006240028
https://english.moe.gov.tw/lp-117-1.html
Contact: Diane Hsu, diane.hsu@britishcouncil.org.tw
Thailand
Updated 18 June
Thailand has extended an emergency decree imposed from 26 March to 30 June. All international inbound flights are banned until 30 June. Starting 15 June, the phase 4 of the lockdown easing has been effective. The 11pm-to-3am curfew has been lifted. Measures have been relaxed nation-wide for several sectors although they still have to follow the government’s disease-control measures. International, informal schools and formal schools with no more than 120 students can open in this phase.
Sources:
https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30389508?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=internal_referral
Schools, universities and public events
On 7 April 2020, with the approval from the cabinet, Ministry of Education announced schools in Thailand to defer the start of the first semester of academic year 2020 from 16 May to 1 July 2020. On 8 May, the Ministry announced that it plans for the first semester to be run on 1 July – 13 November 2020, and the second semester on 1 December 2020 – 9 April 2021. This will result in 17-day and 37-day school breaks, respectively.
Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation issued a formal letter on 17 March 2020 asking universities and higher education institutions to stop all face to face classes and start to implement virtual classes. Details of the announcement can be obtained from https://www.ops.go.th/main/index.php/news-service/announcement/1983-covid-19
Thai universities have announced their term dates. However, some universities may still provide online learning at the beginning of the term. Term dates of other universities can be obtained from https://www.facebook.com/cuptthailand/photos/pcb.1332571403606806/1332568780273735/?type=3&theater
University | Term 1 | Term 2 | |
Chulalongkorn University | 10 August – 16 December 2020 | 18 January – 25 May 2021 | |
Chiang Mai University | 8 July – 16 November 2020 | 23 November 2020 – 5 April 2021 | |
Kasetsart University | 13 July – 23 November 2020 | 8 December 2020 – 12 April 2021 | |
King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi | 10 August – 14 December 2020 | 18 January – 28 May 2021 | |
Khon Kaen University | 27 July – 8 December 2020 | 21 December 2020 – 2 May 2021 | |
Suranaree University of Technology | 3 August – 5 November 2020 | Term 2: 23 November 2020 – 25 February 2021 | Term 3: 15 March – 24 June 2021 |
Thammasat University | 10 August – 29 November 2020 | 20 January – 20 May 2021 | |
Mahidol University | 10 August – 14 December 2020 | 4 January – 17 May 2021 | |
Prince Songkla University | 13 July – 16 November 2020 | 30 November 2020 – 5 April 2021 | |
British Council’s operation
Face to face English classes are suspended until 1 July 2020. The current situation for IELTS is that paper-based and computer-delivered tests are running as scheduled. We have re-designed our test layouts to ensure that test takers and staff maintain a one metre separation at all times. For more information please visit https://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/exam/covid-19-updates
The International Education Services Team is still in operation and will be able to help give advice and respond to queries from UK institutions, agents, and stakeholders.
Contact: Uraiwan Samolee, uraiwan.samolee@britishcouncil.or.th
Vietnam
Updated: 26 June
There is no major update about Covid-19 in Vietnam market, as daily life activities have come back to a “new normal”. For specific questions relating to the Vietnam education market update, please contact Lien Ta.
Contact: Senior Education Services Manager, Lien Ta, lien.ta@britishcouncil.org.vn