Several students buy food at one of canteens of Xidian University. Photo: screenshot of video posted by Btime

To protect students' privacy and dignity, Xidian University in Northwest China is using big data from the school's canteens to find poor students and sponsor them.

Some students at Xidian University in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province found that they mysteriously received money on their meal cards, btime.com, a news website reported on Sunday.

The deposits are a subsidy from the school intended for disadvantaged students and are given secretly to protect the students' dignity.

The university collects big data from canteens to find students who most often buy less expensive dishes to determine which students need the subsidies.

Students who eat at canteens more than 60 times a month and spend less than 5 yuan ($0.7) per meal are the main recipients.

The subsidies are being paid to 203 students who have received 720 yuan on their meal cards. The amount is calculated on the average cost of healthier meals served in canteens at Chinese universities. The extra cash is expected to cover their meal expenses for half of the semester.

The new method received positive reaction for students, alumni and parents, who said it is a considerate way of offering assistance. Lu Lin, director of the university's aid center, said that they will continue the scheme in the next semester.

Netizens praised the university for its humane way of finding those in need, but they also had some questions about how the data might be missing some students who really need the most help. 

"If some poor students never eat at canteens, how can the university find them and help them?" a netizen asked.