Some Chinese universities are now scanning faces for student enrollment

Beijing's Tsinghua University started using facial recognition for more than 3,800 new students this year

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Facial recognition is becoming ubiquitous in China. Technology from Guangzhou-based CloudWalk is used in 60 airports across China. (Picture: Handout)

Published: 5:35pm, 22 Aug 2019Updated: 9:12am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Back-to-school season in China’s universities has become another example of how facial recognition technology is now part of people’s everyday lives, just like social media, mobile payments and online shopping already are.

A growing number of universities are now extending their use of facial recognition to the enrollment registration process, after its initial adoption in applications such as security and recording students’ attendance.

China’s elite Tsinghua University is among the first batch of large academic institutions that have implemented face scans to expedite the enrollment process this month, when the school welcomed more than 3,800 new undergraduate students at its campus in Beijing. The regular academic year in the country starts in September, though many institutions may hold orientations beforehand.

Beijing's Tsinghua University, one of China's two two universities, started using facial recognition for new students this year. (Picture: Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The university deployed an array of face-scanning machines at designated registration points, which has made enrollment “smarter and more convenient” for both students and the university staff involved in the process, according to the system’s provider, Zhejiang Uniview Technologies, in a social media post on Tuesday.

At the back-end of the university’s facial recognition platform, administrative staff can verify each student’s information and keep headcount, according to Uniview, which is the third largest video surveillance systems supplier in China.

The Hangzhou-based company’s facial recognition technology also supports a fleet of unstaffed vehicles, deployed in different areas of Tsinghua University’s campus, to ensure security and manage flow of students.