Duke Kunshan University students have begun a multi-step process to travel to China for in-person classes this fall.
Nearly all of the students authorized to return to China have received formal approval by the Suzhou Entry and Exit Bureau, according to a Tuesday email obtained by The Chronicle sent from Marcia France, associate vice chancellor for undergraduate studies at DKU, to authorized students.
Last month, over 100 students were approved to travel to DKU's campus in the fall. They had until June 10 to accept the offer to return to China or study abroad in Durham or Barcelona.
DKU’s international student services division has begun printing JW202 forms. JW202s are forms issued by universities in China that allow international students to apply for study visas. They must be signed and stamped by DKU, the Chinese Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign affairs before they can be mailed to students.
DKU estimates students will receive the forms in mid-July, according to the email.
Quarantine updates
Students were informed that the previous “14 + 7” quarantine has been reduced to “ 7+7”. Students arriving in Shanghai will now spend three days in centralized quarantine in the city, four days in Kunshan and seven days in DKU’s Talent Apartments.
After this 14 day period, students will be permitted to access DKU’s campus.
Traveling to China
The email said that there will be no charter flights to Shanghai due to a “combination of governmental regulations and aircraft availability.”
“We have also learned that, due to high demand, group bookings are unlikely to be available until mid to late August at the earliest, and, even if they become available, they might not be at a discounted price,” the email read.
More information on possible group bookings may be available in a couple weeks, according to the email.
DKU has been able to make an arrangement with Delta Airlines, which offers four flights a week to Shanghai—two from Seattle and two from Detroit. DKU students departing from the U.S. can arrange to take a domestic connecting flight to one of these departure cities.
This is a developing story and will be updated if more information becomes available.
Charlie Colasurdo is Kunshan Report editor and a senior in the second-ever graduating class of the Duke Kunshan campus’s undergraduate program, located outside Shanghai, China.
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