Coronavirus: Chinese students banned from Hungarian universities?

Illustration. Photo: MTI/AP/Aaron Favila

Based on two e-mails sent to us by a desperate student, Chinese studying at the Budapest Business School and the University of Pécs cannot take part in classes in the first weeks of the semester. We sent our questions to the universities, below are their answers.

According to napi.hu, the Budapest Business School (Budapesti Gazdasági Egyetem – BGE) sent a letter to all of their international students in which they write about the dangers of the coronavirus and how one can defend themselves against the pathogen. Furthermore, they asked their Chinese students not to attend their classes and avoid social interactions.

Coronavirus already infected 12 thousand people worldwide and caused death in 300 cases. As we reported before,

in Hungary, nobody has yet been infected,

even though there was a suspicious case reported from Debrecen on Friday evening, later examinations did not show the presence of the 2019-nCoV virus which is the official name of the coronavirus. In contrast, infections were already reported from Slovakia.

The World Health Organization proclaimed global health emergency because of the coronavirus and said that those who travelled to or came from China or met such people should wash their hands regularly, and in case they have a fever, or feel themselves as if they caught a cold, they should turn immediately to a doctor. The institution also asked healthy people who have been to China recently to avoid social interactions for two weeks which is the latency period of the disease.

The Budapest Business School sent a letter to all foreign students in which they ask their Chinese students to wash their hands more often and to avoid classes for two weeks in which case their absence will be taken justified. Interestingly, they sent this letter even to those Chinese students who have not been at home in the last two months and did not welcome any guests from China.

One of the readers of napi.hu said that there is a student whose mother is only Chinese and has not been ever to the Far-Eastern country. However, she is also, in practice, banned from the university so

she thinks that the process is racist.

Napi.hu reported before that – because of the coronavirus – Chinese people are attacked verbally worldwide as it happened before in the case of the SARS-virus. In Budapest, there are already many inscriptions on the shops saying that the owner is Vietnamese or they have not been to China for two years.

Daily News Hungary received an e-mail today from a Chinese student that a teacher at the University of Pécs sent an email to his Chinese students asking them not to attend his classes for two weeks because of the coronavirus.

We sent our questions regarding the issue to the Budapest Business School (BGE) and the University of Pécs, as well.

The BGE said that their measurement is temporary, but it is still in effect. They said that they advised to some groups of the foreign students, including Chinese students, to avoid taking part in classes during the latency period of the disease, which is two weeks. They emphasised that it is a request, not a ban. If the infection can be excluded, they allow each student to take part in the classes. The process is based on self-assessment, and one can return to learn in the classes if they have not been in China since the epidemic broke out, they did not meet infected people and they do not show any symptoms of the virus. They stressed that

out of their 17 thousand students, 200 is Chinese.

Regarding the University of Pécs, the press officer of the institution said that they do not know anything about any letters in the issue sent by any of their teachers. But they drew our attention on a guideline issued by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in which they say that those students who pose a threat based on the survey of the national healthcare authority, receive an exemption of visiting classes during the two weeks of the coronavirus’s latency period.