A total of 17.75 million college students in China had taken part in online learning as of May 8 since classes moved online in early February as college campuses were closed due to the COVID-19 epidemic, an official with the Ministry of Education (MOE) said Thursday.

The courses these students attended were remotely delivered by 1.03 million teachers from 1,454 universities across the country, Wu Yan with the MOE said at a press conference.

Online learning has been highly recognized among current college students who grew up in the Internet era, Wu said.

It prompted teachers to focus on fostering students' capabilities for creative and independent learning, he noted.

The new online-teaching methods and practices gained by Chinese universities over the last three months or more are instrumental in the development of higher education in China and even across the world, Wu said.

China also launched two English online learning platforms during the epidemic, making quality educational resources provided by top Chinese universities accessible to hundreds of millions of students and learners around the globe.

A total of 302 English courses including those on medicine, epidemic response, natural science, engineering, and art have been put on the platforms.

As the epidemic dies down in China, schools across the country have reopened or are about to reopen. About 2.9 million college students had returned to campuses as of May 11, according to the MOE.