Beijing Normal University used two face-scanning machines for student registration on Sunday, the first day of the new semester.

After scanning a student's face for two seconds, a digital photo with the student's name, student ID, and major is created. Students can share the digital photo online with their family and friends, and they can also print it out for free.

The university will finish capturing facial images of all the students on Tuesday.

The face identification technology will be used to control access to student dormitories this semester.

Students will be required to swipe their cards and use facial recognition to gain access. If they forget their student cards, they can speak their names into the machine, which has a sound recognition function, or enter their student ID and password. Then they still have to scan their faces to gain access.

"I heard about the face identification system just a few days ago," said Lu Jiabao, a third-year master's degree student at BNU.

"It will be convenient if we forget to bring our student cards because we will be able to get in by scanning our faces," Lu added.

Ma Liang, a doctoral student said the newly installed system will increase security. "People who don't live in the building will not be able to get in even if they have student cards," Ma said.

Cheng Si and Zhang Yi contributed to this story.