University of California students studying in China are either
on their way or have safely arrived at home after the Education
Abroad Program had to suspend operations in China on April 18
because of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Of the 44 UC students participating in the program, 43 are
returning. One student from UC Santa Cruz has decided to remain in
Beijing.
All four UCLA students who were abroad in China are healthy and
on their way home, said Emily Mohajeri Norris, EAP administrative
director at UCLA.
“I think they’re dealing with the transition
gracefully. It’s a challenging transition, and we’re
doing what we can to support them,” she said.
SARS, a new form of pneumonia that purportedly surfaced in
Southeast Asia, has spread to 20 countries and hit China
particularly hard. The death toll in Beijing was raised to 82 with
1,570 confirmed cases.
Worldwide, SARS has killed 394 people and infected over
5,400.
EAP will decide on May 10 whether or not to reopen its programs
at Peking University and Beijing Normal University for its summer
session.
To make the decision, EAP will consult a broad range of sources
for input, including the World Health Organization, the Center for
Disease Control, the State Department and local Chinese citizens,
explained Bruce Hanna, a representative for EAP.
“Those people provide direct access to the hospitals and
the universities so that we are in touch with whatever precautions
are being taken locally,” Hanna said.
An alternative to outright closing the China program could be to
run it in conjunction with other universities or with third party
organizations, Hanna added. The EAP China program, for example, was
run in collaboration with the University of Michigan and the
University of Wisconsin.
At the moment, EAP does not anticipate the closure of any other
programs in Asia, as those countries appear to be making progress
in containing the virus, Hanna said.
It is not clear why a UC Santa Cruz student opted to remain in
China after EAP closed its offices. Adrienne Weir, an EAP advisor
at Santa Cruz, said it was a voluntary decision.
“My assumption would be that he stayed on at Peking
University to continue his coursework,” she said.
Two UC faculty members, a professor from UC Irvine and a
professor emeritus at UC Berkeley will also remain in China to
continue research and act as monitors to help EAP gauge the
situation.
The epidemic of SARS has definitely thrown a monkey-wrench into
plans students had made to study abroad in China in the future. At
UCLA, about 51 students had applied for the China summer
session.
Erin Wong, a second-year international development studies
student, was planning to go to China over the summer but said her
plans may have changed.
“I would still want to go, but I wouldn’t feel
comfortable. … A lot of things are closed, and I wouldn’t
want to go there and not see all of China,” she said.
David Wu, a third-year economics student and another summer
applicant, said he was disappointed by EAP’s decision to
close the program but he would go if it was reopened.
“I haven’t really believed it to be too serious. It
seems like it’s just kind of like the flu ““ or
that’s my understanding of it at least,” he said.
“I’m still totally down to go.”
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services