Nearly 300 students of NYU Shanghai's class of 2021 also celebrated the completion of their studies at the commencement ceremony. Despite various challenges, the school says the graduates have succeeded in finding the next promising steps.

The number of students applying for a medical or health-related master's or PhD degree program has grown. Work opportunities in China have also increased for international students as compared with last year.

Separately, Duke Kunshan University in Jiangsu province recently announced that it will welcome its largest and most diverse class of international students in the coming fall semester after 180 students from 48 countries accepted offers to enroll into the university's undergraduate programs.

DKU received a record 1,800 applications from international students this year, more than double the number last year.

Renowned Shanghai doctor Zhang Wenhong, who led the Shanghai team of experts to treat novel coronavirus cases, was conferred an honorary medal by the NYU chancellor at the commencement ceremony for his extraordinary contributions in fighting the pandemic.

At the ceremony, Zhang says that cooperation and sacrifice are still humanity's best weapons to overcome all kinds of difficulties.

"The spirit of cooperation and teamwork cultivated through university life will become the fundamental power for the youth to overcome all difficulties in the future," says Zhang, who is the director of the infectious diseases department at Shanghai's Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University.

"I believe that the future of human beings depends on whether the young people of the world can finally come together."

NYU Shanghai chancellor Tong Shijun reminded graduates to focus not on the tribulations of the moment, but on what is possible instead.

"In this world full of uncertainties, the best mentality is to see uncertainties as possibilities, to look for ideals in possibilities, and to work for our ideals, including our ideals of personal excellence and communal well-being, with creativity and perseverance," he says.