Students left in limbo as universities change plans
Students at Korean universities that have been extending online classes a few weeks at a time are increasingly pushing their universities to hold the entire semester online instead of dragging out an unpredictable situation, writes Chai Yoon-tae for Hankyoreh.
South Korea’s Playbook for Reopening: Don’t Use Cash, Sit Side by Side
…Ji-ae Choung, a 26-year-old university student, had been taking classes online for the past two months. When one course resumed on campus last week, she had to record her name and temperature before entering a large lecture hall. Students sat one per row, and everyone wore masks, including the professor.
Students head to court over tuition fee refund demands
Student anger over the South Korean government’s inaction over demands for university tuition fee refunds – due to many classes being held online during the coronavirus pandemic – has led to a petition to the country’s Constitutional Court to set a legal basis for reducing tuition fees in a time of crisis.
A threat with a silver lining for higher education?
The current COVID-19 pandemic is posing several challenges to international higher education. In an age of rapid internationalisation, universities strive for global institutional cooperation, actively promote overseas student mobility and form international academic communities. This togetherness, in return, has made them more vulnerable to external threats than ever before.
South Korea considers pushing back plans to reopen schools amid pandemic
South Korea’s top infectious disease expert says the country could possibly push back plans to reopen schools if coronavirus infections surge again over the weekend after a weeks-long decline.
Schools to reopen as virus fears ease in South Korea
South Korean students will return to school starting next week, officials said Monday, as the country seeks a return to normal life after a significant drop in new coronavirus cases in recent days.
Govt. to announce school reopening plans this week
The government is set to soon announce dates for students to return to school in line with the country's relaxed social distancing guidelines as the coronavirus pandemic shows signs of waning here.
S. Korean universities postpone spring festivals to fall semester
As the COVID-19 pandemic keeps students away from campuses, college festivals are getting postponed to the fall semester.
South Korea's 'reinfected' coronavirus patients are false positives
South Korean health authorities reported last month that dozens of patients who had recovered from COVID-19 later tested positive again. That revelation threatened to complicate efforts to lift quarantine restrictions and to produce a vaccine.But after weeks of research, they now say that such test results appear to be "false positives" caused by lingering - but likely not infectious - bits of the virus.
South Korea Delays School Reopening as New Coronavirus Cases Rise
South Korea is extending school closures by an additional week as new COVID-19 infections are on the rise. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the coronavirus.
S. Korea delays spring semester 1 more week following club cluster infections
That spike in COVID-19 cases from several nightclubs in Seoul has again postponed school reopenings by another week here in South Korea. High school seniors were set to go back to schools this Wednesday. They will have to wait another week to be back at schools with the starting dates of all other grades pushed back by one week.
South Korea Tries a Tentative Reopening—and Pays for It
After a new spurt of coronavirus cases in Seoul and with a second wave deemed “inevitable,” South Korea is bracing itself for a new normal.
South Korea to reopen schools despite new coronavirus cases
High school seniors in South Korea will return to school next week, despite growing concern over widening chain infections traced to a cluster outbreak in Seoul's nightlife hub Itaewon.
S. Korea logs 5 new Covid cases, plans to reopen schools
“…The government has stood by its decision to ease broader restrictions by reopening offices, public facilities and sports centres, but some nightclubs and bars in the capital were ordered to close again, and authorities have also delayed the planned reopening of schools by a week.”
South Korea to reopen its schools with strict health security measures (Lexis; login required)
Students in South Korea maintain social distance and wear masks …But he seems to have controlled the outbreak thanks to an extensive "tracking, testing and treatment" program. Around 440,000 seniors, who in December will take the college entrance exam - a crucial step in an education-obsessed country - are the first to return to schools, and other years will remain in stages over the next few weeks. Inside the schools, students are asked to clean their desks and feel separated according to social estrangement guidelines, and some classes even installed divisions between desks.
South Korea Restarts Schools After Virus Spread Slows
After an unprecedented five-month break, South Korean students are returning to their classrooms as government health officials declared that the country may have avoided a “second wave” of infections.
New Infections Mar South Korean Students' Return to School
The discovery of new coronavirus cases in two students marred the reopening of South Korean schools on Wednesday, forcing 75 high schools to turn pupils away amid fears among some teachers that it was unsafe for classes to resume.
People who recover from coronavirus and test positive again are NOT contagious: Korean CDC finds 're-positive' patients did not infect any of their 790 contacts
Researchers from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) looked at 285 survivors who tested positive after previous tests said they were negative. None of the 790 people that the patients came into contact with were found to be infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The team says the findings are a sign that some areas might be safer to reopen than previously believed.
Universities: The open debate on the formula for returning to campus (Lexis; login required)
Temperature controls, mandatory masks and thermal imaging cameras were part of the equipment deployed in South Korea for the gradual return of college students to campuses. From this month, some South Korean universities resumed face-to-face classes with fewer than 30 students, who must give their prior consent to attend, and only for specific subjects. In the face of complaints about new positive cases in South Korea that could reach the Ues., the directories have decided to strike a balance between virtual and physical classrooms.
In Asia, children are going back to school. But education in the time of coronavirus is not without difficulties
For the first time in three months, South Korean high school students are back in the classroom. But in many ways, it's not schooling as usual. As high school seniors returned to school Wednesday, they had their temperatures checked, wore masks on campus, and sat at desks that were spaced apart, in line with commonplace social distancing practices.
Hundreds of South Korea schools close again after reopening
More than 500 schools closed again Friday to students after briefly reopening, as South Korea moves to stamp out a resurgence of the coronavirus in the capital, Seoul, and its surrounding metropolitan area. Parks, art galleries, museums and theaters operated by the government in the Seoul metropolitan area -- home to about half the country's population of nearly 52 million -- have also been closed to the public for the next two weeks.
US reaches 100,000 coronavirus deaths
South Korea reported 40 new infections of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, the largest daily increase in over a month. A majority of the new cases were detected in Seoul, where a cluster of infections has been recently linked to reopened bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues in the densely populated capital.
Coronavirus update: South Korea records biggest daily jump in cases since April 5
South Korea has reported 79 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the most since April 5 and the third straight day of rising infections, raising the spectre of a second wave of disease in a country widely praised for containing the initial outbreak.