Universities in China have moved their thesis defense online as part of efforts to help students graduate on time as campuses across the country remain closed to avoid cross-infection and the spread of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Education issued a notice on the graduation of master degree students in the first half of 2020, urging universities to launch online thesis defense for students.

For students who can't complete their thesis on time due to the epidemic, universities should give certain extensions, the notice said. 

More than 20 universities have arranged a process for students to conduct their thesis defense online, and the entire process will be recorded to ensure quality, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Tsinghua University in Beijing and Northwestern Polytechnical University in northwest China city of Xi'an were among those universities that have successfully launched a "cloud thesis defense," reported Guangzhou Daily.

The thesis defense serves as a necessary formality for master and PhD students after their papers are evaluated.

Nearly 3,000 master and PhD students defended their thesis online at Northwestern Polytechnical University and the procedure was completed before March 13.

Xie Wenwen is the first PhD student at Tsinghua University who finished her thesis defense online at home in northwest China's Shanxi Province on February 27.

The thesis defense committee consisted of five professors from the top universities in China. During the 2.5-hour process, students made the paper statement and answered questions asked by faculty members before receiving their final results on site.

However, going online doesn't mean lowering the evaluation standards. Universities have said they're still following strict criteria in evaluating the papers.

To ensure students get access to the academic resources they need, many universities also issued measures such as opening the library resources and journals for free to students outside campus.

For those who had difficulties conducting experiments or field research for their paper, some universities including Guangdong University of Foreign Studies allowed students to adjust their research topic and content.  

For those who need experimental data, universities such as South China University of Technology and Northeastern University, urged supervisors to provide them more remote guidance.

The number of university graduates in 2020 will hit a record high of 8.74 million in China, 400,000 more than last year.