Spring in Shenzhen is a pleasant season with its gentle breeze carrying the fragrance of flowers, and the jacaranda trees on the University campus came into full bloom in mid-April in time to welcome back students from different parts of the country. For most domestic students, their two-month online study has come to an end, but for their international counterparts, their remote learning may have to continue for a while.

While border restrictions caused by the pandemic have prevented most international students from returning to China, CUHK-Shenzhen is again reaching out to those stranded students. The international scholar and student services team of the Office of Academic Links (OAL) recently organized another Zoom meeting for CUHK-Shenzhen’s international students. Professor Zhu Shiping, Vice President for External and Student Affairs, Dr. Yu Xiaoming, Director of the Student Health Counselling Center (SHCC), and Dr. Wang Kai, Deputy Director of the Office of Academic Links attended the meeting. They discussed the recent development of the University, how students can take care of their psychological wellbeing during their days at home, and answered questions and concerns raised by the students.

“Our international students are on my mind,” said Professor Zhu. “The University understands the challenges of online learning and has been actively communicating with education authorities at all levels on the proposition of our international students’ quick return to campus. Once the government relaxes the restrictions on students’ entry, we will try our best to manage our international students’ safe return and make quarantine and other related arrangements properly.”

He stressed that CUHK-Shenzhen is one of the most internationalized university in Chinese mainland, and international students are an integral part of the University. The University has always pursued equal treatment of its Chinese and international students, providing them with diversified all-round educational experience.

In addition, Professor Zhu introduced the recent development of the University, including the Phase II construction of the campus. “We have a very busy campus nowadays, and our development is booming,” said he.  The medical school and the music school are under construction around the fairy lake, and the construction of three new colleges is in full swing.

Professor Zhu called on everyone to persevere in difficult times, and carry out their plans without procrastination, because time waits for no man. He encouraged students to actively communicate with the University when they have problems and take good care of their physical and mental health.

The global Covid-19 pandemic is still affecting our campus life in many ways, especially the study and lifestyle of our international students. Due to the border entry restrictions caused by the pandemic, more than 300 international students are still stranded overseas, taking classes online day after day, and for some across very different time zones. The University management has been concerned with the wellbeing of those students, and Professor Zhu has organized meetings with student support and services offices to address those students’ concerns and resolve their problems. OAL’s international scholar and student services staff also maintain communication with the students in the international students’ WeChat group, and answer their questions and provide related services in a timely manner.

One particular issue that this night talk focused on was the psychological wellbeing of our students during their prolonged online study. Following Professor Zhu’s speech, Dr. Yu Xiaoming went on with his talk entitled “How to Take Care of Your Mental Health during Your time at Home”.

Dr. Yu shared with the students two topics: mental health and related resources available at the University. He stressed that self-confidence, self-discipline and self-study are the internal resources and method one can tap into and use to achieve mental health. In addition, the Student Health Counselling Center provides online services for international students, such as telephone and e-mail consultation.

Dr. Yu suggested that international students pay more attention to what they can improve. Communicating with people around you, deep breathing and meditation, walking in the sun, maintaining a regular daily life and reading before going to bed are all ways to maintain good mental health.

The last item on the evening’s agenda was the Q & A session. The students raised a variety of questions, such as China's latest entry and quarantine policies, lab course issues encountered during online learning, the luggage packing and shipping for international graduating students, CITIC Bank account problems, preparations of recommendation letters for graduate program applications, etc. Dr. Wang Kai answered these questions and had an interactive discussion with the students.

The online night talk lasted two and a half hours and it attracted more than 90 international students and their parents to participate. The following is some of the feedback we have received from the student participants:

1. Ariq Ramdhany, Year 1 student from SDS:

“I would like to address my gratitude for tonight's meeting. It has been hard and challenging for me to make friends and be engaged in campus activities other than online classes.

Thank you so much for putting thoughts into international students and I want to let you know that activities like this help us so much.”

2. Christopher Lie, Year 2 student from SME:

“I feel quite relieved as it turns out that I am not the only one trapped in the pandemic with online classes almost every day. After the pep talk by Prof Zhu, I found the mental health seminar to be very insightful, especially when Dr. Yu talked about what makes a student burn out and living a balanced lifestyle. Let's do our best to survive and thrive in this pandemic! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in person after the pandemic subsides.”

3. Yelike Winne Lukito, Year 3 student from SDS:

“I had a pleasurable time at the meeting with VP Prof Zhu, Dr. Wang, and Dr. Yu. It's been so long since the pandemic started, and I've been staying at home almost every day. Dr. Yu’s talk reminded me that we can still have a healthy lifestyle despite the challenging situation. I'm thankful to know that the Student Health and Counselling Center provides online counselling services for overseas students.”

4. Clara Valencia, Year 3 student from MED|LHS

“The meeting was helpful as the students could directly send questions and get immediate responses. I’m glad to learn that ISSS has been helping international students with their bank account problems.”

5. So Ry Park, Year 4 student from SME:

“I am glad we had a chance to talk about health and practical ways to improve it. Reading books, receiving our daily dose of vitamin D from the sun, and getting proper sleep... These are some of the tips that I got from the meeting - so obvious but it's good to remember again!”

6. Darell Patrick Hung, Year 3 student from SSE:

“The meeting was quite insightful as it showed me where the university stands regarding the international students and the efforts the staff have put in. Similar meetings would be a great idea. Maybe, meetings with more specific topics and staff members from different schools can be invited to tackle the problems students may face in their studies.”