Campus under the influence of the epidemic

The school year has started, but the campus has lost the hustle and bustle of the past: most teachers are taking online classes at home, a few graduate students are sitting in the huge laboratory, and there are couples who stayed in school during the summer vacation. Strolling through the empty playground. The control measures for universities in Nanjing where Lukou Airport is located are naturally a bit stricter than those in other cities.

It has been almost two years, and this is the second time we have encountered online classes and campus closures. Two years is neither long nor short, but for graduate students and undergraduate students whose study cycle is only 3-4 years, the impact is already large enough. 1. The quality of online teaching is greatly reduced

To achieve good teaching results in online teaching, in fact, the requirements for teachers, teaching objects, software platforms, and network environments are quite high. However, in the current context, teachers' sense of responsibility remains at the level of teaching according to conscience, and students' initiative and enthusiasm for learning are not much better in the absence of teacher supervision and teacher-student interaction. As for the software platform and network environment, glitches are a high probability event when tens of millions of students are online at the same time. As for practical courses that require laboratory operations and field investigations, and online teaching in the virtual space, only God knows the quality of the teaching. When the author was guiding the 2021 graduates who were affected by the epidemic, I obviously felt that their hands-on ability and practical operation ability were lower than those of previous students. 2. Scientific research has been seriously affected

As a graduate student in natural sciences, you need to use various instruments and equipment in the laboratory, conduct field surveys and observations, conduct controlled experiments in the field, and participate in various academic conferences . Under the influence of the epidemic, various control measures such as campus closures, nucleic acid testing, health code inspections, and travel approvals have resulted in the separation of students from laboratory space, and necessary links in scientific research have been interrupted. I have seen posts on university forums more than once from graduate students begging for help: Please, President, please let me enter the campus. The seedlings in the laboratory are almost dying of thirst! Some instructors also complained in the teacher group: When will the campus be reopened? If I don’t go out to take samples and get data, my graduate students won’t be able to graduate on time! 3. International education and academic exchanges have been almost interrupted

Under strict epidemic control measures, foreign countries are regarded as high-risk areas, resulting in the basic interruption of international student education and international academic exchanges. In previous years, the author guided one foreign student every year, but I have given up since last year. There is no way. The foundation of overseas students is not good. Coupled with language and cultural barriers, language communication and thesis guidance are very difficult. Across thousands of mountains and rivers, how can we conduct remote teaching and provide guidance on thesis in virtual space? Moreover, with the majority of international students from Third World countries, these students take online classes in their home countries and conduct experiments using local materials, but they also lack the necessary software and hardware conditions. As for participating in offline international academic conferences, it is even more impossible. Many doctoral students at the school where the author works have obtained agreements to do postdocs abroad or jointly train with foreign countries, but they were forced to give up due to strict epidemic control and visa difficulties.

4. Students’ views on further education and employment have undergone tremendous changes

Under the influence of the epidemic, all industries have withered, especially those in tourism, accommodation, catering, etc. that are in close contact with people and have high mobility. Tertiary industries such as education and training, logistics, real estate agency, etc. These industries are precisely the main channels for employment for undergraduates who have not furthered their studies or gone abroad. An undergraduate student I once mentored loved outdoor sports since childhood. After graduating from undergraduate degree, he became an international tour guide, specializing in overseas travel in Southeast Asia. Affected by the epidemic, I switched to the education and training industry in Imperial City after being laid off last year. This year, affected by the "double reduction" policy, I lost my job again. Under the influence of hearing and seeing that “everything is inferior, only those within the system are good”, college students’ views on employment tend to be conservative. Postgraduate entrance exams for undergraduates have become standard, and employment within the system has become the first choice. In the case of the ordinary agricultural and forestry college where the author works, the registration rate for the postgraduate entrance examination for one undergraduate class as a model has reached over 90%, and the acceptance rate is close to 80%. The 11 full-time counselors announced by the human resources department this year are all doctoral graduates, 4 are male and 7 are female, including graduates from Peking University, Nanjing University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.