Sunday, 13 Oct, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
More than two years into the COVID19 pandemic, China stated on Monday that Indian students will be now be able to apply for visas to return to restart their studies beginning this week.
More than two years into the COVID19 pandemic, China stated on Monday that Indian students will be now be able to apply for visas to return to restart their studies beginning this week. On Monday, China's Embassy in India and numerous other countries announced updated visa application processes, which included applications for newly enrolled and returning students in its list of visa categories. Ji Rong, Counselor at the Department of Asian Affairs at Beijing's Foreign Ministrytook to Twitter to announce easing of visa policies for Indian students. “Congratulations to all Indian students!"Your patience pays off”, she tweeted.
In November 2020, China had barred Indians from travelling due to the pandemic. The visa regulations were finally relaxed in July to allow direct family members to travel. The resumption of awarding student visas is a crucial step toward allowing the return of thousands of Indian students, most of who are enrolled in medical schools and have been waiting for more than two years to resume their studies and receive the necessary practical training to graduate.
Though China has decided to bring back international students, a few hurdles still remain. Obtaining a "certificate of returning to campus," which is required for visa applications, is a major hurdle for returning students. Some Chinese colleges are refusing to issue the letters, citing the local pandemic situation in their provinces. Apart from this, travelling to China from India is another major problem for the students as direct flights from India to China have not been started yet and transit flights are highly expensive. China has gradually increased the number of overseas flights, although it still carefully regulates international travel, adhering to a strong "ZeroCOVID" policy. Quarantine is still necessary for inbound travelers, though the term has been decreased from 21 to 10 days.But in spite of all these hurdles, out of around 20,000 Indian students previously studying in China, 12,000 have reregistered with the Chinese foreign ministry to resume their studies in China.
The chart below shows the number of students immigrating to China for educational purposes in 2019 and 2020.
Source: Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs
Around 19,170 Indian students were studying in the Chinese universities in China in 2019 but this number was drastically reduced to 398 in the year 2020 as the students were severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Majority of students had to return to India as they were left with no other option due to the pandemic. Though, the number of students studying in China has decreased in last 2-3 years, the students from India studying in China increased in the long term as around 13,500 Indian students had enrolled themselves in Chinese universities in 2015 but this number shot up to 18,171 in the year 2016. China is a preferred destination by the students across the world for pursuing degrees in the field of medicine. Now that the Chinese government has once again allowed the students from India to resume their studies in China, the number is expected to rise rapidly.
Apart from China, the Indian students also had to suffer in the Ukraine in February this year due to the Russia-Ukraine war which forced the Indian students to come back to India. This had a major impact on them as they couldn’t complete their educational courses which they had enrolled for. Countries like China, Ukraine and Russia are popular educational destinations for studying medicine for Indian students due to the high fees of professional medical courses in India.
