One of New Zealand's largest universities has appealed for understanding about the coronavirus outbreak, which threatens to disrupt the start of the school year as travel bans have prevented thousands of Chinese students from reaching their host countries.

The Auckland University of Technology (AUT) said it is committed to doing everything it can to support Chinese students during this uncertain time, and Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack said the virus "is not the fault of any one country, or any one population, and we will not benefit from uninformed blaming or shaming."

Worldwide, around 700,000 Chinese students attend foreign universities – including 360,000 in the United States and 212,000 in Australia. New Zealand's eight universities take 13,000 students, but half of them are currently unable to enter the country because of a travel ban imposed by the New Zealand government which has been extended to February 24.

As a result, most universities are now providing some form of online study until the students are able to leave China. The University of Auckland is New Zealand's largest and has been in personal contact with 2,000 missing students to offer personalized study plans. Vice-Chancellor Prof. Stuart McCutcheon said an online teaching system has been developed to support students in China and "then to move seamlessly into their degrees and diplomas when they get here."

Another novel approach is the allocation of a Mandarin-speaking "study buddy" for first-year students to help them understand how the university works. "It's all about making the transition as easy for them as possible so that they start learning in China and when they get here they pick up their studies and away we go," said Prof. McCutcheon.

Likewise, the AUT will allow its 1,000 absent Chinese students to watch or listen to recorded lectures online and there'll be reading plans and an opportunity to catch up with missed studies once they arrive. "Our main aim is to do everything we can so that we can welcome them here to start their studies and lesson the impact that this ban's had on their journey to success," McCormack noted.

New Zealand International Students Association Secretary Ryan Wei said that some students are starting to think that there is "no point of coming back to New Zealand" if the ban continues, especially when Canada and the United Kingdom have kept their borders open. However Prof. McCutcheon believes that the support being offered will help convince Chinese students to stick with New Zealand.

The universities are now putting pressure on the New Zealand government to relax the travel ban to minimize the financial damage. China represents around 43 percent of an international education market valued at more than five billion New Zealand dollars (3.2 billion U.S. dollars) and it's been estimated that refunds for fees and accommodation costs could wipe out any financial surplus for the 2020 year.