Résumé
Impacted by the global COVID-19 crisis and its sociopolitical shockwaves, pre-existing physical mobility patterns and traditional study-abroad experiences have been thoroughly disrupted and transformed. US higher education institutions have utilized the practices of transnational hybrid learning to sustain the qual-ity and progress of international higher education. This article focuses on a study programme that integrates online and offline learning in Shanghai, China, coordi-nated by a non-profit international higher education exchange agency in partner-ship with eight US universities and one Chinese university from August 2020 to June 2021. Through semi-structured interviews with 32 Chinese students, this article finds that transnational hybrid learning offers students greater geographical and time flexibility, room for self-paced learning and controls on health risks while ensuring face-to-face interactions and physical activities. In addition, the localization of international education might motivate Chinese students to consider their career development that balances their interests and career prospects in response to political and economic uncertainties. However, the communication and learning gaps, weakened intercultural communication, sustained sociocultural alienation and contradictions of two sociocultural contexts render the overall programme experience less desirable. In sum, this article identifies the potential of virtual mobility beyond geographical and policy constraints in transforming and reimagining the practices of transnational higher education in a post-pandemic world. © 2022 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.
Résumé
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease, and it is important to detect early and monitor the disease trend for policymakers to make informed decisions. We explored the predictive utility of Baidu Search Index and Baidu Information Index for early warning of COVID-19 and identified search keywords for further monitoring of epidemic trends in Guangxi. A time-series analysis and Spearman correlation between the daily number of cases and both the Baidu Search Index and Baidu Information Index were performed for seven keywords related to COVID-19 from January 8 to March 9, 2020. The time series showed that the temporal distributions of the search terms "coronavirus," "pneumonia" and "mask" in the Baidu Search Index were consistent and had 2 to 3 days' lead time to the reported cases;the correlation coefficients were higher than 0.81. The Baidu Search Index volume in 14 prefectures of Guangxi was closely related with the number of reported cases;it was not associated with the local GDP. The Baidu Information Index search terms "coronavirus" and "pneumonia" were used as frequently as 192,405.0 and 110,488.6 per million population, respectively, and they were also significantly associated with the number of reported cases (r(s) > 0.6), but they fluctuated more than for the Baidu Search Index and had 0 to 14 days' lag time to the reported cases. The Baidu Search Index with search terms "coronavirus," "pneumonia" and "mask" can be used for early warning and monitoring of the epidemic trend of COVID-19 in Guangxi, with 2 to 3 days' lead time.