BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) --Yu Jia, an undergraduate majoring in law in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region never expected to see a webcast hosted by the president of her college amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Nong Kezhong, president of Xiangsihu College of Guangxi University for Nationalities, has recently organized an online broadcast with about 2,500 students through Douyin, or TikTok

"Many students use this app, so we decide to innovate our ways to keep them informed at home and remind them of better protecting themselves amid the outbreak of pneumonia," said Nong.

He said that it is the college's responsibility to keep the students safe and sound during the extended winter holiday.

In the chat room, questions concerning school opening day, course arrangements, as well as the preventive measures for the epidemic taken by college popped up on the screen.

Nong said more than 10,000 masks will be handed out to teachers and students free of charge while online courses will be available later.

Noting that it is the first time for him to use Douyin, Nong said more than 100 questions were collected through online platforms such as QQ and WeChat a week before the webcast.

"Thanks to online communication platforms, the interaction between teachers and students becomes more frequent and closer," said Huang Dazhou, deputy secretary of the party committee of Xiangsihu College.

He said the Internet has been a great help in people's daily life, especially during this epidemic outbreak.

Lu Jiaxin, a student majoring in the Thai language, said the webcast through Douyin is "interesting and down to earth."

"Although the epidemic is serious, we will unite to overcome it," said Yu Jia.