Getting a scholarship for Bachelor study

[joshuawbb]

After a long time of thought I have decided that I want to take my university education in China (for various reasons), and by that I mean leaving the UK after gaining my college A-levels, living in China and taking a full 4 year Bachelors course. I am aiming for Xiamen University or Fuzhou University, to study BA Chinese Language and Literature or a different degree.

However, finance has always been a very strong concern of mine, given that such fees would be a struggle for my family and I. Though tuition fees are obvious whether I study in China or here in the UK, moving and living in China would of course throw in a lot more cost.

My main question is about scholarships - reading the Xiamen University website gives me somewhat of an idea about what their scholarship is especially compared to a government scholarship. I understand that the government scholarships are not available for BA students (or so I can see on the site anyway).

But I want to know - how 'easy' is it to get a scholarship for my BA studies? Is it necessary that my college A-level grades be exceptional? (i.e. three A grades). And above all, how likely am I to even get a scholarship for such a long period? (I presume with hard work they can be renewed each year).

One other question - could a scholarship fund an initial 2 or so years of language study? I know that I will need language proficiency to get into a Chinese university, so I understand I would be taking classes before I begin an actual course.

As I said before, finance is a strong concern of mine. I worry that without a scholarship for my fees, I may not at all be able to study in China at all; since the cost will likely be too much to cope with. Studying in China has been something I really want to do, and have decided on.

I am in need of finding out this information quite urgently, I'd be very thankful for information. I'm finding it especially hard to find any information from searching around.

Thank you very much!

[roddy]

Have you actually compared costs in the UK compared to China? I suspect China will work out cheaper and you don't actually have that much to worry about. You'd also have the option of doing plenty of part-time English teaching work which pays very well relative to the cost of living.

[Horse]

I don't mean to be a poo-pooer and if you have made your decision then maybe this isn't useful anyway but as someone who came here after graduating from the UK and being around a lot of fellow brits and Americans who skipped uni at home and then came here to do a 'degree' I would really implore you to look at it very carefully.

The universities here cant really compare to those in the UK in terms of tuition or prestige in employers' eyes (possibly with the exception of Bei Da,etc, but even then). I really think graduating from a British uni is one of the only big advantages of coming from the country. The guys i know that are studying at unis here are studying 4 years getting tuition which they could get in a language school (i've done both and prefer the teaching at a private school), for a piece of paper which isnt going to be taken very seriously by Chinese or British employers. Chinese friends i have spoken to think it's bizarre that parents here would chop off their own limbs to send their kids to any red brick uni in the west and yet westerners come here to go to university.

I'm not trying to get on a soap box and you sound like you've given it a lot of thought , and obviously it's your decision but i would definitely say after seeing both sides of the coin i'm so glad i got my degree in the UK before i came here

[BrandeX]

You do have a point. Chinese that have any money/power send their children out of China to western Universities to get their degrees.

[roddy]

Anyone with money, power, and a kid that didn't do well in the Gaokao, at least. Would be interesting to see what decisions people make when they have both the option of an education overseas or at a top Chinese university. Which UK university would Beida be perceived as equal to, etc.

Anyway, in my first post I didn't bother saying this as the OP reckons he's made up his mind, but I'll chime in now - in terms of academic quality and future employability this is not likely to be a wise decision, and if as I suspect by "BA Chinese Language and Literature" you mean one of the courses specifically for foreigners, that goes tenfold. Go to a UK university to study Chinese, do the first year in the UK and then in the second year you'll be sent somewhere in China. After that second year, if you are convinced it's the right thing to do, drop out in the UK and start studying in China.

[joshuawbb]

Thank you all very much for your replies, I'm very thankful.

Actually, I don't intend to take one of the courses intended for foreigners - and I'm sorry for confusing this in my first post. By BA Language and Literature, I intended to mean a degree just like a Chinese person would take. This may be different or even irrelevant in China, but as you know in the UK students can take English Language at BA level - not to learn the language itself but to study the most detailed aspects of it, including it's history, psychology, variations and change, etc.

I don't know if this is the same or similar with Chinese Language BAs, but that's the type of degree I was intending to apply for. Not as a language-learning course, but a study of it just like an English Language BA would be for British students. If this isn't possible, then a course in a similar field, such as Chinese Literature, or maybe Psychology or History (as I am currently studying history too at college).

I don't intend to apply for a language BA specially for foreigners - actually I am trying to avoid them for reasons discussed here - so my study plan would be to take the 2 or so years of language study to gain language proficiency, and then take a BA course like any other Chinese student. This is why I am most concerned abiut finance or the possibility of a scholarship - because 6 or more years of study surely includes a lot more cost.

Thank you very much for making this aware to me though. I'm finding it extremely difficult to find sufficient information or advice for such a large future plan in China, as understandably careers advisors or the British UCAS organisation either don't know how or won't help me.

[yonglin]

I also have very strong feelings about this topic. I think the only reason a Brit should go to China for his/her undergraduate degree would be if s/he already knew plenty of Chinese and wanted to enroll in the regular Chinese literature program for native Chinese students. In every other area, it will be better to get a university degree in the UK, or some other place in a western country.

I take it that you haven't yet studied at a university in the UK, or anywhere else in the west. In this case, you might not be aware that a major reason why you attend university is to develop your critical thinking skills and obtain intellectual maturity. Since this is not going to happen merely by studying a language (which will for most part involve memorizing vocabulary, conversing on shallow issues, reading texts on simple subject matters, etc.), British universities will require you to take an array of courses in other subjects, e.g., history, politics, sociology.

A Chinese-for-foreigners degree in China, on the other hand, will be almost exclusively focussed on obtaining fluency in Chinese and contain very little of the rest. You will never be intellectually challenged. Now, if this is what you're looking for, I suggest you take a Chinese training course (either at a private school or perhaps a university). Most people studying in China and who are willing to work hard could become professionally functional in Chinese in about two years time - a lot shorter than it would take you to complete a bachelor's degree. A HSK certificate would act as a proof of proficiency.

Oh... and yes. I should add. The only western person I've met in real life who considered doing an undergraduate degree in China happened to be from England (there was another guy on these forums a while back). However, he hadn't completed his A-levels (can't remember if he even completed his GCSEs), and thus wouldn't be able to gain admission at a university back home at all. In addition, he had realized the relative uselessness of getting a degree in Chinese-for-foreigners and was considering business management or something to that extent.