A photo of Wuhan University Photo: VCG

Wuhan University, one of China's top universities in central China's Hubei Province, recently launched a new seminar called the Psychology of Love, which has proved hugely popular amongst students. It has also drawn the attention of netizens, who have said it offers "necessary lessons" to help with young students' mental and emotional development. 

The course was designed and is being taught by Yu Feng, a psychology professor in Wuhan University's philosophy department. It helps students with starting and maintaining a healthy and positive loving relationship based on the lecturer's introductions on related psychological theories, interesting tips and practical knowhow.  

"Does it have an online version too? I would definitely sign up because to be honest, I'm a slightly shy and practical guy who would find such a theory-based dating course convincing. And trust me I'm not the only one I know at uni who has such agony about love," Yao Chang, a second-year engineering student in Chengdu, told the Global Times. 

The course is already extremely popular at Wuhan University, and some students who participated have shared their photos on Sina Weibo showing that the seminar room is not only full-house, but there were also some people standing outside the window recording the session.  

"I was never so punctual in arriving at any seminars I attended before, but there was still no place for me even though I arrived on time," said a student on Sina Weibo.  

The new course has also become a hot topic supported by many netizens on Sina Weibo. Some said more Chinese universities should run similar courses. 

"Such courses are so necessary. Even if my daughter does not want to talk about her private life with me, she can still get some advice from university. I feel the course reflects the university's sense of responsibility for students' mental and emotional education. That's what today's universities should do," Xiong Naiming, a university lecturer, told the Global Times. 

Despite the seminar being generally described by netizens as a "dating course," it is actually academic-based and aims at teaching students "to know the dimensions and complexity of 'love' outside the boxes of sex and emotion," and also to let students "have more control and coordination with their 'sense' and 'sensibility' - for example, learning to deal with frustration and effective ways when communicating their emotions," Li Liqun, an educator and a philosophy teacher in Beijing, told the Global Times. 

In 2020, the Capital Campus Press Union conducted a survey among 1,028 university students nationwide on the question of whether universities should offer courses that focus on love. The result was that 88.23 percent of students supported it. 

Before the recent course launched by Wuhan University, East China Normal University launched a course focusing on "marriage and love" in 2013.