The epidemic prevents college students from going back to campus across China. Instead of waiting for the end of the epidemic, Tsinghua University decided to shift all the courses online and start teaching on February 17 as scheduled. Now, more than one month has passed and the entire online teaching went smoothly. The research teams in different fields have also made progress. As a Tsinghua student, I would like to share some examples of how “university in the cloud” works, which might be useful to Italian friends.
The majority of teaching activities are conducted online.
Professor Zhang Li, a 95-year-old physicist, is one of the most senior teachers at Tsinghua University. This is the 23rd consecutive year he has taught the graduate course “the Frontier Topics in Quantum Mechanics”. Due to the epidemic, he learned how to give live lectures with the help of his assistant, and answered students’ questions through the WeChat group. “I think remote teaching is especially good for students! This may lead to more student participation since some of them may be less shy speaking online than in the classroom. The online classroom is better for discussion and debate” said Professor Zhang after his first online lecture. Professor Zhang is not alone. Tsinghua offered 3,923 online course sessions this semester, delivered by more than 2,400 faculty members to over 25,000 students.
In addition to lectures and discussions, students can also have off-campus experiments. Thanks to high technology, students can operate experimental equipment remotely in real time. For some other experiments, students can visit the online platform and carry out simulation experiments.
Thesis defenses have also been put online to help students graduate on time. Xie Wenwen is the first Ph.D. student at Tsinghua University who finished her thesis defense online at home in northwest China’s Shanxi Province on February 27. The thesis defense committee consisted of five professors from the top universities in China. During the 2.5-hour process, students made the paper statement and answered questions asked by faculty members before receiving their final results on site. However, going online doesn’t mean lowering the evaluation standards. The entire process was recorded to ensure quality. To ensure students get access to the academic resources they need, the university has also issued measures such as opening the library resources and journals for free to students outside campus.
In 2020, there will be around 7,700 Tsinghua graduates, among whom, 3,800 will be entering the job market. To help graduates find jobs, the university launched a large-scale online career fair on March 16, which was the first time in Tsinghua’s history. It attracted 621 employers and lasted one week. Students can browse job posting, submit resumes, and make video calls with the employer through the Online Interactive System.
Researchers in different fields are working intensively.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the School of Medicine at Tsinghua University on March 2. During his visit, he expressed regards to experts and researchers, inspected the scientific research on COVID-19 and chaired a symposium to listen to the views and advice from officials and researchers. President Xi said, “science and technology are the most powerful weapon in humanity’s battle against diseases.” He called for accelerating the development of new-type testing kits, antibody medicines, vaccines, and diagnosis and treatment plans.
As one of China’s top research universities, researchers in Tsinghua have been working intensively for months to help fight against the coronavirus outbreak. Professor Cheng Jing’s team from the School of Medicine developed the “Respiratory Virus Nucleic Acid Detection Kit”, which can detect the six types of respiratory virus simultaneously, within 1.5 hours. This helps to speed up the differential diagnosis of viruses with similar symptoms. Professor Shi Yuanchun’s team from the Department of Computer Science and Technology developed a “Close Contacts” screening application for Zengdu District, Hubei Province. The app enables residents to record their recent whereabouts and close contacts through mobile phones. It then analyzes the real-time data and identifies people that may have had a high risk of exposure. A research team in the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology applied electron beam irradiation technology to the sterilization of medical supplies and the treatment of medical wastewater. Professor Li Daokui’s team from the School of Social Science released an influential report on how to resume a more normal level of economic activity outside the Hubei Province.
I sincerely hope that Tsinghua’s online teaching experience can help Italian friends. Wish we can contain this epidemic and return to normal life as soon as possible.
Author: Lang Kun, Ph.D. Candidate from Tsinghua University in Beijing
原文详见：La vita universitaria “nella nuvola（云端的大学生活），意大利百科全书研究院网站，2020-03-28