“I just realized that I hadn’t brought with me my eCard required for entrance when I am already at the university gate.”
“I didn’t get the time to check my eCard balance on top-up machines, so it was quite embarrassing when I was at the canteen checkout.”
“My lost eCard turned up soon after I applied for a new one.”
The virtual Fudan eCard, namely Fudan Campus Code, will usher in a new era of campus life. After its launch on December 31, Fudan Campus Code can be accessed via the “复旦eCard” mini program on WeChat. Just point the Code at the scanner, and actions such as identity authentication and transactions can be completed in an instant.
“复旦eCard” program for students
“复旦eCard” program for faculty/staff
The “复旦eCard” mini program will also allow Fudaners to top up their accounts, report or cancel loss of eCard, reset eCard password and the maximum expense per transaction, check transaction history and placing meal orders.
What is eCard?
ECard can be used for entering campuses, signing in for class attendance, accessing swimming pools, taking shuttle buses, registering at the university hospital, taking showers, and making purchases at Fudan canteens, cafeterias, supermarkets, bookstores, etc. But like all things with physical existence, they can be forgotten back at the dorms, or just suddenly disappear.
ECard can be used to:
Authenticate identity
Take a shuttle bus
Top up eCard accounts
Access an on-campus swimming pool
Pay for meals
Pay for bakery items
Fetch hot water
Will the physical Fudan eCard be canceled?
No, both the virtual and physical eCards will remain available.
“We decide to keep both options available. The virtual eCard will be welcomed by those who are accustomed to mobile payment, while the current physical Fudan eCard is more friendly to those who are not familiar with smart devices,” said the person in charge of the eCard project. “Besides, the current Fudan eCard remains irreplaceable as it is an essential memory for Fudaners.”
How was the idea of virtual eCard brought up and realized?
The number of Fudan eCards reported lost per month stays astonishingly around 1,800. It takes laborious steps of loss registration, reissuance, balance transfer, identity authentication to get a new eCard.
The eCard project team does final testing for the system.
However, numerous technical challenges were posed before our engineers. How often should the Code auto-refresh itself to avoid sneak shots of the Code? What if the driver is incompatible with the system environment? How can offline decoding meet security requirements? To solve such problems, the engineers often had to burn the midnight oil to make adjustments and run rounds of tests.
Such effort has revealed Fudan’s determination to carry out the “Smart Campus” vision.
In 2005, eCard was rolled out throughout the university.
In 2012, CPU was upgraded for the eCard system.
In 2017, Fenglin campus started to adopt the online food ordering system.
Now in 2020, the virtual eCard is launched.
What more functions can we expect?
In the future, virtual eCards may enable code scanning for dorm entry and attendance sign-in and making payments via facial recognition or third-party payment platforms such as WeChat Pay and Alipay.
Launched on the last day of 2020, the virtual eCard will be a nice New Year present for Fudaners!
