On May 6, Tianjin University welcomed back its first batch of senior students in their final year of study.

As the epidemic situation continues to improve, the university employed a phased fashion of school reopening, giving priority to graduating students most of whom have to go back to their laboratory and finish the experiments required for their defense dissertation.

A detailed plan for epidemic containment was devised to ensure the safety of both students and faculties back on the campus.Students whose home are in Tianjin are expected on May 6, while students coming back from other provinces are to return from May 7 to May 9.

A volunteer staff waits outside the railway station to gather students coming back to Tianjin by train.

Working groups were dispatched to all the railway stations and the airport in Tianjin to pick up students and take them back to the university by designated buses. Students who choose to drive back were directed to enter the university through a certain gate. All the public places on campus and the dormitories have been cleaned and disinfected beforehand to ensure a safe and steady school reopening.

Students have to go through temperature monitoring, luggage disinfection, mask replacing before they are directed to their dormitories.

The university has set up monitoring and reporting mechanisms for both faculty and students to follow on campus for epidemic containment. Apart from wearing masks, everyone will go through body temperature monitoring systems and identity authentication that shows their health status on a daily basis, and sanitize hands if they to enter dormitories, teaching buildings, libraries and canteens.

A special care kit was provided to each and every student back to school, including epidemic prevention materials like masks, disinfection gel and napkins, an electronic thermometer, and free mobile data plans that facilitate students’ identity authentication.

“We also formed a voluntary psychological assistance group with 30 teachers and over 70 social therapists in case students need any psychological support,” said some official in charge of the school reopening.

By Eva Yin