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Students learning Korean at Inha University have their temperatures checked and their hands sanitized on Feb. 3. (provided by Inha University)

As the novel coronavirus spreads in South Korea, universities around the country are scrambling to handle their Chinese students and adjust schedules as the spring semester approaches. Since Chinese students are returning from trips to China for the Lunar New Year, at the end of January, universities are asking those students to quarantine themselves at home and canceling matriculation and commencement ceremonies to prepare for any eventualities.

Mokwon University in Daejeon has isolated 26 Chinese students in a dormitory after they visited their home country during the Lunar New Year holiday and is conducting daily checks for health issues. They are among 254 total Chinese students taking doctoral courses during winter vacation. At Konyang University in Nonsang, South Chungcheong Province, 53 out of 86 Chinese students returned to their home country; nine of them who were confirmed to have recently returned to South Korea have been isolated in their residences.

Busan University of Foreign Studies (BUFS) recommended that its Chinese students wait until the end of this month before returning to South Korea. Around 90% of over 700 Chinese students attending the university were found to have departed for China prior to the Lunar New Year holiday. With around 150 Chinese students set to return to the school in March, BUFS is considering provisionally isolating them in a dormitory at Pusan National University’s Jangjeon campus for 14 days after their arrival in South Korea.

Plans for sending exchange students overseas have also been canceled or postponed. Gacheon University in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, which has around 900 Chinese students attending, canceled its yearly program of sending exchange students to China every February. Pai Chai University in Daejeon canceled plans for the departure of 33 selected exchange students for the new semester to sister universities in China. Jeonju University, where around 650 out of 670 Chinese students are expected to arrive in South Korea, indefinitely postponed a short-term sister university study program scheduled for this month, along with plans to send exchange students to China in March. Hanshin University in Osan has deferred the departure of 19 exchange students who were to be sent to Chinese universities this year.

Delays in university academic calendars also appear inevitable. Inha University, Ajou University, and Hanshin University have canceled briefings and orientation events for freshmen. Universities are planning to discourage students from engaging in group activities, while providing briefings indirectly via video messages. Many universities -- including Ewha Womans University, Sungkyunkwan University, Konkuk University, Kyungpook National University, and Changwon National University -- either have canceled graduation and matriculation ceremonies or are weighing their postponement.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) plans to meet with university officials this week as it considers whether to recommend that all South Korean universities defer the start of classes. It is also planning to establish academic affairs guidelines to support online classes for international students unable to enter South Korea and approval for leaves of absence during the first semester. An MOE survey of all 242 South Korean universities and junior colleges found 112 students, faculty, or staff to have visited Hubei Province in China within the 14 days preceding Jan. 28.

By Lee Jung-ha, Incheon correspondent, Song In-geol, Daejeon correspondent, and Kim Yeong-dong and Lee Jeong-gyu, staff reporters

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]