Indian students express hope as China will allow "some" medicos to come back to Chinese varsisties 

Indian students enrolled in Chinese institutions heaved a sigh of relief as China announced plans to allow the return of "some" of them who have been stuck in India after Beijing imposed visa and flying restrictions because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Rohit Kumar Yadav, an MBBS student at Shihezi University, shared that he is glad that he will be able to go back to campus and appear for physical exams.

"Medicine is a practical-oriented course and despite all the efforts by university to make online classes more interactive, it is not the same kind of exposure. I am glad this difficult phase will end and I will be able to return to campus and also appear in offline exams," he said.

A student of the University of South China in Hengyang, who did not wish to be named, said, "The past two years have been very difficult not only personally but also academically. I hope it's all over now and we can get back to normal campus life."

"We have been asked to submit required information by filling up a Google Form on the Indian Embassy's website. Even if our return is in phases, it's a welcome move," said a student of Harbin Medical University.

"The chances of fourth-year and final-year students returning to campuses are high as they require practical experience more than first- or second-year students," he added.

As per the earlier reports, above 23,000 Indian students, most of whom are pursuing medicine in Chinese colleges, are stranded in India after they returned home as the Coronavirus pandemic broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the Chinese government in order to prevent the spread of the virus, Indian students could not return to China.

Since then, they made desperate attempts to rejoin their classes by returning to China. However, they had confined themselves to online classes because Beijing had cancelled all the visas and flights for Indians.

On March 25, the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) had issued a joint notice asking the Indian students to "exercise due diligence" with respect to Chinese Universities as the Chinese government had imposed travel restrictions on the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our university had conveyed earlier that courses will be conducted online. UGC and AICTE do not recognise such degree courses done only in online mode without prior approval. I was worried about this," said Neeraj Kumar, an MBBS student.

Following the announcement made by the Chinese government, the Indian Embassy in Beijing sought the details regarding the students who are intended to return back to China.

"Following the meeting of External Affairs Minister of India, Dr.S.Jaishankar with the State Councillor and Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China, Wang Yi on 25 March 2022, the Chinese side has expressed its willingness to consider facilitating the return of Indian students to China on a need-assessed basis," the Indian Embassy said in a statement on Friday.

“In order to facilitate this (return), the Indian Embassy intends to prepare a list of such students which will be shared with the Chinese side for their consideration. Therefore, Indian students are requested to provide necessary information by filling up the Google Form, latest by 08 May 2022,” it said.