New Chinese degrees at Edge Hill University, UK

[xiaoz]

Two New Chinese Studies programmes, BA (Hons) English and Chinese Studies and BA (Hons) Chinese Studies and Business, have been successfully validated at Edge Hill University, near Liverpool UK. The new programmes have been highly commended by the Validation Panel composed of local quality assurance people as well as Chinese Studies experts from the Universities of Cambridge of Leeds.

Course websites have now been setup to provide updated information about the new Chinese programmes, including programme structure and corrected entry requirements. The websites can be accessed at the following links:

English and Chinese Studies:

http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/study/courses/english-and-chinese-studies

Chinese Studies and Business

http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/study/courses/chinese-studies-and-business

For further details, please contact

Dr. Richard Xiao

Senior Lectuer and Programme Leader of English and Chinese Studies

Department of English and History

Edge Hill University

Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 4QP

Telephone: (+44) 01695 657180

Email: Richard.Xiao@edgehill.ac.uk

[AxelManbow]

Interesting to see a new program in the UK. Is interest in Chinese studies in the UK picking up? A quick Google Trends search suggests interest continues to decline, but Google Trends is horribly off the mark sometimes.

Attached picture: Google trends result for the phrase "study chinese"

[xiaoz]

I'm not sure of the Google Trend, but probably the following statistics of UCAS applicaitons for Chinese studies degrees may point in a positive direction.

[roddy]

Xiaoz, is there any overseas component to the courses? I think most Chinese undergraduate degrees will involve some time in China.

[xiaoz]

Yes you're right. There is a component of placement/residence in China on the Chinese courses.

[potato]

Having lived in various areas of the UK, I have to stay I've never heard of this university. Courses often take a few years to become 'proven' and respected, as do universities. Would advise anybody looking at this particular institution to thoroughly research this course and associated university - I am sure it will all be fine, but a few sub-standard universities are out there still.

My reason for this post is because this university is not mentioned in The Times' top 100 universities. A few of the universities on above the ~75 position are really quite terrible. I will not go into reasons as to why I know this - Edge Hill isn't even on these university ratings lists, which would make me question the logic in doing a newly created degree at a low calibre university.

I would suggest to those reading this that unless you are very local to the university, look elsewhere for combined English and Chinese (language or business) courses in the UK. We have a lot of very good courses, many with generous entry requirements for any Chinese students wishing to attend one in the UK.

[yonglin]

Apparently, this school has only had university status since 2006, which might explain the fact that we've never heard of it. It is ranked 98/113 in the Times Good University Guide.

I would be somewhat suspicious when the contents of NPCR3 are referrred to as "advanced grammar", since this book is what I would consider lower intermediate at most.

Also, I personally cannot imagine any place better than SOAS to study Chinese in the UK.

[roddy]

I agree with the points being made about the university, but lets also remember that the entry requirements make this a completely different market.

Xiaoz, I know you may not have the overseas component set up yet, but do you know which university it will be at?

[xiaoz]

In reply to # 6-

Yes indeed, ideally every one shold go to Oxford and Cambridge, but...

I agree with roddy that that the university does not have a high rank on the league table presently because it has become a University recently (in 2006). You can see on the league table the staus of universities establised at similar time or later. To be fair, I think we should take account of the "career" stage of university - and of individuals as well - that's why we as assesssors for research councils are required to take into account applicants' career stage when assessing research proposals. There is also a difference between pre-1992 old universities and post-1992 new universities if you are familiar with the British higher education system.

Edge Hill University was affiliated to Lancaster University before it became a university, and as a result many practices are carried over from Lancaster University. Edhe Hill has a high start point and is developing rapidly.

Edge Hill University has been delivering higher education for 123 years, since it became the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in 1885. The University has a student population of almost 20000 and employs 2000 staff. Here is a fact sheet provided by the university:

1. Edge Hill University is one of the fastest growing institutions in the UK, increasing applications three - fold since 2000. This unprecedented growth continued with a further increase of 11.6% in 2008.

2. The University combines academic excellence with career focussed programmes, with 95.9% of all students finding employment or embarking on further study within six months of graduating.

3. As a result of excellent links with over 300 employers, 75% of graduates leave with qualifications that have professional recognition.

4. In the past decade, two thirds of academic provision has been graded as ‘Excellent’. Under previous quality assessments, no subject was evaluated lower than 20 out of 24. A £5m award from HEFCE has established the University’s online learning initiative, SOLSTICE, as a Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning.

5. Ambitious expansion plans will see the campus grow significantly by 2020, with an investment of £200m and the recent acquisition of 84 acres of land to the east of the existing site.

6. A state-of-the-art £14m Faculty of Health building opened in 2008 and a new £8m business school is currently under construction with a planned opening in 2009.

7. The University was one of six institutions nationally to be shortlisted for the Times Higher University of the Year Award 2007.

8. Students ranked Edge Hill University in the top 20 English institutions for overall satisfaction in the latest National Student Survey 2007.

9. The University is one of the top 10 institutions nationally for re-investing tuition fees on students in 2007, with £1.9m spent on scholarships, bursaries, outreach activities and an award-winning financial package.

10. The University is the lead institution for the Greater Merseyside and West Lancashire Lifelong Learning Network; a partnership of higher education institutions and 14 further education colleges providing pathways to higher education for vocational learners.

[xiaoz]

...in reply to # 7 -

There is a placement in China compoment, but this component is made optional given the diversity of students, especially mature students.

A number of universities in China have been in contact to host EHU students intending to taking the placement module.

[potato]

Xioz, I don't really care for these facts you try to throw at us here.

Evidently a respected university evaluation found you were really not as good as over another hundred universities in the UK, and I'm not talking about everybody wanting the odd Oxford or Cambridge degree. With reference to language courses, those universities above the top 50 have increasingly generous entry requirements as you go up the list towards the top 100 and above.

I'll repeat the gist of my first posting in this thread: any prospective student - don't go by what a biased party says, simply do your own research. There are many independent websites on the interweb to enable you to evaluate this particular course and university mentioned. Just do not assume that because someone happened to mention this particular course and university here that it is somehow better than any other.