PETALING JAYA: Malaysian students studying in China may not be able to return to the campus due to the high cost of airfare and isolation charges, says Lin Guo Yuan, president of the Association of Graduates from Universities and Colleges of China, Malaysia.

Lin told Sin Chew Daily the association, also known as Liuhua, estimated that about 6,000 Malaysians were unable to return to China although the actual number of students may be between 9,000 and 11,000.

He said a flight ticket to Guangzhou is about RM6,500 while the air ticket on a chartered flight is only RM2,800.

Malaysian students are required to undergo ten days of quarantine at RM426 per day.

After spending ten days in quarantine, the student may have to travel to the city where the university is located. He is required to undergo quarantine for a second time.

Taking the case of first batch students who have returned to China on August 8, a student studying in Sichuan University arrived at Pudong, Shanghai. The student paid RM229 per night to stay in a hotel during isolation, and RM197 a day for lunch and dinner for ten days of isolation.

The student then traveled to Chengdu where he was required to undergo home quarantine for another ten days.

“For students willing to pay for these charges, they can go back to China. Many still continue to attend online classes from home in Malaysia,” he said.

It is also unknown whether the students can continue to attend online classes from home in Malaysia after China allows foreign students to return to the campus, he added.

“We are discussing these issues to assist the students,” Lin said.

Lin thanked the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Embassy of China to Malaysia and agencies for assisting Malaysian students to resume their studies in China.

The Embassy of China in Malaysia announced that Malaysian students would be allowed to apply for visas to China to resume their studies beginning August 24.

Lin said figures from the Education Ministry of China revealed that 9,479 Malaysian students were studying in China in 2019, plus another 1,200 new students from Malaysia in 2021.

Majority of Malaysian students returned home in early 2020 due to the lockdown measures imposed by China to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.