NCNU Pandemic Journal
May 14
In the midst of a sudden rise in Covid-19 cases in northern Taiwan, NCNU’s Students’ Association hasted to finish a scheduled outdoor concert with less than 500 attendees, with face masks on and without food and drinks, at NCNU’s grand campus lawn on May 12.The university’s administrative team is now holding online meetings more frequently, to review all the pandemic prevention measures and make sure they are implementedproperly and in a timely manner.
May 16


All corners of
NCNU campus were disinfected during weekend.
May 17
Today
is the university’s first day of launching online learning, a well-practiced
routine ready to go since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year,
making the transition from physical classroom to online mode a smooth operation.
Campus management in response to the pandemic such as diverting flow of staff
to additional offices, flexible working hours, student performance evaluation
measures, and acquisition of video equipment for financially disadvantaged
students will soon come into place.
Within
3 days, Dr. Dong-Sing Wuu (武東星), the university’s
president and chief officer for pandemic control, convened 2 school-wide
meetings online to oversee how these action plans were implemented. The
priority of these measures is to safeguard those living or working on the
campus while protecting students’ education rights.
May 19
Information
transparency and timely updates play a vital part in pandemic control. All
stakeholders are put on the same page and can respond and move accordingly.
Thanks to technology, everyone can raise questions and request assistance using
online platforms. Today, the Students’ Association expressed on students’ behalf their
concerns about classroom hours running short due to Taiwan’s nationwide school closures,
especially the stress of meeting English-language credit requirements before
graduation. They were given quick responses and felt reassured.
After
launching online courses, the campus dormitory saw a 50% decrease in residents,
while around 1,300 students chose to stay. The Nantou bus company offering
service between Puli and NCNU notified the school that they will reduce buses
coming in and out, as recent passenger volume has been reduced from 16
passengers to 2.4 persons per ride.
This
very afternoon, the central government announced that the pandemic alert has
been raised to level 3 across the whole country. The president convened an online
meeting once again to examine issues such as diverting staff to different offices;
these action plans were implemented right after the conference call ended.
May 20
Today,
the media reported stellar student recruitment for some public universities
including NCNU, with enrollment reaching above 80% of full capacity. All the
efforts made under the instructions of Dr. Dong-Sing Wuu (武東星),
the university’s president who was inaugurated on Feb. 1, have proven fruitful.
Recruitment
is vital to the school’s sustainable development, and the administrative team
has been accelerating its stride for sustainability in all areas, including
caring for students. The Ministry of Education reminds all academic
institutions to take care of the psychological state of students and faculty
who are receiving PCR tests or under quarantine. Currently, there are 6
students awaiting test results while staying in separated spaces or at home.
May
21

NCNU
has experienced months of drought, which has plagued central and southern
Taiwan for several months. Water-storing and -saving measures have been in
place for a month. Today, we are so delighted to greet rainfall in the
afternoon — the second spell of rain we had in recent weeks. During the
pandemic, we are grateful to have an undisrupted supply of water for washing
hands.
Good news! PCR test results for all 6 students were negative.
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