A group of Chinese students who tried to charter a plane home are among thousands attempting to leave the UK because they believe they will be safer in China, universities say.

With many international students left behind on deserted campuses – now mostly running a skeleton service – academics have been pitching in to call students and reassure them they aren’t alone.

But universities report that Chinese students, who make up a third of non-European international students in the UK, have been among the most keen to leave. They say Chinese parents were alarmed by the UK government’s initial “herd immunity” message on the virus, and feel the lockdown has come too late.

Last week 70 Chinese students from universities including Cardiff, Birmingham, Warwick, University College London and Edinburgh used a WeChat group to club together with their parents and charter a China Southern flight from London Heathrow to Guangzhou, which had been due to leave on Friday. But with China introducing new flight restrictions, the students have learned they will no longer be able to fly.

A student from Birmingham University who was planning to travel on the flight, which would have cost around £2,000 each, said: “I want to go back because China has taken effective measures against the virus, like closing Wuhan and Hubei province and building new hospitals. It gives me full confidence in Chinese medical care.”



The student, who asked to remain anonymous, has managed to buy a standard plane ticket at a similar price and has not lost money on the charter plane, but says he would have felt safer travelling only with other Chinese students. “At this point we are more concerned with safety than money,” he said.



Krista Charles, a science communication master’s student at Cardiff University, who wrote about the flight for the Cardiff student news site, said: “Some of the students are trying to get back through different routes. One was trying to travel through Thailand, but many haven’t been able to get flights. They are all really worried.”

Joe Huang, a master’s student at a London university who has returned to China, said: “Someone at my university was diagnosed with Covid-19 just as Boris Johnson said that Britain needs herd immunisation to fight the epidemic, which made my parents very nervous. Because I am from Hubei province they know how terrible this epidemic is.”

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With the cost of one of the few remaining seats typically upwards of £2,000, and many flights full, Huang says he was fortunate he made the decision relatively early to leave. Many of his Chinese classmates have had to take three connecting flights to get home, some going through Ethiopia and other African countries.

Joe Sucksmith, the visa and immigration officer at the University of Gloucestershire, said: “It is perfectly understandable to want to be with your family at this time of crisis. But many Chinese students also feel they will be safer there because there has been a much stricter and faster government response in China. For instance, if you have symptoms you will be tested.”

Prof Colin Riordan, the vice-chancellor of Cardiff University, said: “I would say the bulk of our Chinese students have decided they want to go home. Clearly the epidemic is still approaching its height here, whereas in China it is on a downward trend. And it is natural to want to be with one’s family at a time of crisis.”

Now that teaching has moved online, Cardiff has been asking all students to get in touch about where they are. The university is offering to pack up students’ rooms and store possessions for them if they left in a hurry and will not be returning next term. The university will be offering 2,600 bedrooms to the NHS for staff to use for free.

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Cardiff has said it will not charge students in its halls any rent if they aren’t here next term – a move not all universities have taken. “We are pressing our private accommodation providers to follow suit. No one expected this to happen, and we don’t feel it is right to be charging students if they won’t be here,” Riordan says.

Last week he issued an appeal for staff volunteers to help make phonecalls to the roughly 700 students still on campus. “We’ve had a great response,” he says. “Some of it is really just about showing students there are human beings here and we are doing everything we can to support them.”

At the University of the West of England, in Bristol, a bank of volunteer staff are callingthe 1,000 students still on campus. As well as international students who didn’t get a flight in time, or couldn’t afford one, these include students who didn’t want to put their elderly parents at risk, as well as care leavers and young people who are estranged from their families.

Prof Steve West, UWE’s vice-chancellor, said: “If students are left alone in a hall because all their neighbours have left, we will ask whether they wish to move into other blocks. This makes it easier to keep an eye on people, and to avoid social isolation.”

West has issued a video message to students, urging them to look out for each other and be kind. “We have to understand that students will go through all sorts of emotional challengesover the next few months,” he said. “There are months of disruption ahead. Students quite rightly want certainty and they want structure. I can give them some of that, but I can’t give them everything.”

Dr Dominique Thompson, who was a GP at the University of Bristol for 20 years, said: “A student bedroom is a small space, maybe only a single bed and a desk with a chair. Being stuck in there if you can’t go home can be challenging.” Thompson is worried that the virus will cause anxiety symptoms to worsen among young people.

“That feeling of powerlessness that this is giving us all may be overwhelming, particularly for students who are a long way from home,” she said.

Thompson advises those stuck on campus to continue some sort of routine, including exercise and contacting others. “It’s really hard to concentrate at the moment but even half an hour using your brain will make you feel better,” she said. “And think ahead to when this is over. If you’d like to travel, look up websites and create an imaginary itinerary.”

Christopher Tucker, the director of residence life at Edinburgh University, said his team had a list of everyone still on campus who may need extra mental health support, and would call them twice a week. Theteam is also asking students to notify them if they are worried about their flatmates. “At this stage we have to treat everyone as anxious,” he said.

“Normally we can see the state of someone’s bedroom and there are visual clues about how they are managing. We are having to do that through Skype, which is harder. Often people play down what they are going through, so we have to listen and look for clues.”

But West said universities were also wrestling with the opposite challenge: young people who feel invincible and may not understand why it matters to maintain physical distance on campus. “Our security team is telling students that it isn’t just about them: you may feel well, but you could still be infecting people. I put it bluntly – you may save your friend’s or parent’s life.”