On May 6th, students from Dalian University of Finance and Economics disclosed on overseas social media platforms that the Student Union was demanding students to fill in personal information such as ID numbers, home addresses, parents’ occupations, under the pretext of “facilitating Communist Party and Communist Youth League membership”. This raised concerns among students about the potential leakage of their personal privacy. A student in Jiangsu revealed to Dajiyuan that international students studying abroad have become a “focus” for the authorities.
Screenshots of a form circulating online showed that students were required to provide their names, ID numbers, phone numbers, home addresses, and parents’ occupations. Since the form was set to be visible to everyone, many students felt that anyone could access these details, making it no different from public disclosure.
Some netizens commented, “This is not just a regular registration, it’s conducting background investigations.” Another said, “This is not only a violation of personal privacy but also a harbinger of massive reporting. In the future, they may check who has concealed their family situation and encourage students to expose each other.”
Ms. Wang, a parent of a student in Guangdong, told a Dajiyuan reporter that her daughter’s school recently requested students to fill out a “family member information form”, which she refused to do: “The school said it was to update emergency contact information for easy communication with parents in case of emergencies. I only provided a phone number and left the rest blank.”
She added, “Nowadays, everything requires registration. Buying things online requires information, buying medicine requires information, getting a bank card requires information, even buying a kitchen knife requires registration. I feel like they just want to have detailed information on everyone.”
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has been expanding its collection of personal information. The requirement for mainland Chinese schools to collect family member information from students has sparked backlash among netizens. A proactive netizen from Huizhou told the reporter that authorities have been increasingly collecting information from college students, including data on weight, blood type, which were seldom registered before, now being recorded in the campus database.
He expressed, “It sounds scary. Why do they need to collect even these things? The school says it’s to improve student data, but I don’t buy that explanation. I even suspect that they might use this data for other purposes in the future.”
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party’s education system has been promoting “smart campuses” and “education digitization”. Many universities have established student management platforms that not only encompass academic performance and attendance but also involve family backgrounds, political activities, mental states, religious affiliations, and daily activities.
Public data shows that some universities have established “International Student Management Centers” in recent years, requiring foreign students to regularly report their accommodations, schedules, and off-campus activities. There have been reports by overseas media that some Chinese universities have introduced systems such as “student information officers” and “student observation officers”. According to a student from Zhejiang University using the pseudonym Wang Jue, who hails from Hong Kong, some universities require class monitors to assist in monitoring the situations of international students, including their religious activities and social interactions.
Wang Jue revealed to the reporter that one of her teachers once privately warned her during a chat that there were so-called “professional students” in the class: “The teacher told me not to speak carelessly, not to mention things like those related to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai from Hong Kong, and also said that there are people in the class specifically collecting students’ and teachers’ remarks.”
She mentioned that these individuals are usually referred to as “public opinion information officers” in schools, who specialize in recording statements made in class, and any content related to politically sensitive topics is reported. Since the teacher’s caution, she has been careful about what she says at school. “I later asked the teacher how to distinguish these people. The teacher told me that international students, in particular, should be cautious and just be a little careful with their words.”
Information from Wikipedia shows that in 2024, Zhejiang University drew attention for its “student observation officer” system on campus, with some students questioning the practice. The university conducted mutual feedback on classroom and campus remarks among students, forming an internal supervision network, with the institution explaining the system as a “feedback mechanism” and “campus governance measure”. Additionally, Zhejiang University of Technology, Nankai University, and Wuhan University have also publicly mentioned the “student information officer system”, utilized for teaching feedback and classroom management.
In 2021, mainland Chinese media revealed that some universities were analyzing student behavior and consumption data on campus to assess students’ ideological and mental states. At the time, some scholars raised concerns that universities’ collection of student data had extended beyond educational management purposes.