The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of COVID-19 victimization experience (CVE) on university students' academic behaviors, which has not received sufficient attention in current research. Based on the job demands-resources model, which claims that insufficient resources and high demands can result in burnout, the present study proposes a mediation model to investigate the association between CVE and academic burnout (AB), and the mediating role of emotional intelligence (EI). A cross-sectional survey including the COVID-19 Victimization Experience Scale, the Academic Burnout Scale, and the Emotional Intelligence Scale among Chinese university students, were administered online. A final sample of 1,223 valid questionnaires were collected. The SPSS macro PROCESS program was used to test the mediating impact of EI on CVE and AB. Bootstrap resampling techniques with 5,000 data resamples further tested the rigor of the mediating effect. The results indicated that (1) CVE significantly predicted university students' AB (]beta] = 0.500, p < 0.001); (2) EI partially mediated the association between CVE and AB (indirect effect value was 0.023 with 95% CI [0.010, 0.039]), and higher EI could decrease the impact of CVE on AB. These findings highlighted the significance of nurturing university students' EI as a protective factor against the risk of burnout caused by COVID-19 and other similar public health events, advocating for transdiagnostic evidence-based educational interventions in order to improve individual's ability to emotionally cope with the stressful and traumatic experiences.