East China Normal or Jiaotong?

[renjie]

Hi!

I am a GBC (German Born Chinese ) and I got admitted to the language programs at Shanghai Jiaotong as well as East China Normal.

I have already used the search and it seems to me that both universities have good language programs.

I would really appreciate it if some could provide me with some updated information about the language programs of these universities (e.g. information about teachers, dorms, fellow students, quality of teaching, living expenses...).

And does someone know which university has fewer foreign students? - I don't seek to talk German and English all the time.

thanks in advance

[Xiwang]

If this is the same program that I know about, the language teaching at Shanghai Jiaotong will be on its Xuhui campus. This is the older campus, which has the advantage of being closer to downtown.

See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Jiao_Tong_University for a discussion of Jiaotong's various campuses.

For Fall 2009, I ultimately decided to enroll in Fudan University in order to be exposed to Chinese students from all different majors. I felt that, with many of Jiaotong's local students being moved to its other campuses, I would be handicapped in being able to meet a diverse group of Chinese Jiaotong students.

(Although I will now be further away from downtown, I will also be able to get a larger apartment for the same amount of money.)

[gato]

Right, regular Jiaotong university classes are all being held at the new campus in Minhang, which means that there won't be too regular students at the old Xuhui campus.

[renjie]

damn, this is definitely a huge disadvantage...

my Chinese relatives are urging me to go to Jiaotong , but I am still undecided..

[anonymoose]

I'm currently at Jiaotong. As others have said, the chinese language program is held at their Xuhui campus. This is in a very accessible location, but accomodation nearby is not cheap (probably more than 3000 per month for 60 square metres). The campus is very quiet as most undergraduate courses are held at their other campus in Minhang District. There are still students at Xuhui, but as far as I know, most are postgraduates, and opportunities for interacting with them are fairly limited (though you could probably make opportunities if you eat in the uni canteen, for example, and there are always students looking for language exhange).

As for whether there are more foreigners at ECN or Jiaotong, well, if you are on a language program, then all of your classmates will be foreigners whereever you go. I don't know anything about ECN, but the foreigners at Jiaotong are composed mainly of Koreans and Japanese (at least at the advanced level). There of course still are a fair number of westerners. Whether you end up speaking English and German the whole time is up to you - noone else is going to force you.

As for the teaching, I've found it to be fairly satisfactory. At least the teachers are reasonably competent.

[renjie]

@anonymoose:

Do you mean the rent for one's own flat nearby is around 3000 yuan or do you actually mean that one has to pay around 3000 yuan for a room at the university's dorm?

And how do you get in touch with Chinese people then and how do you practice you kouyu outside class? Would you decide in favour of Jiaotong again?

And by the way where are you from and how long are you gonna stay at Jiaotong?

[anonymoose]

renjie

Yes, about 3000 for a rented apartment outside the uni. I'm not sure what the dorms are like or what the cost is, but they seem to fill up fairly quickly, so if you want to live in the dorm, then you should make enquires well in advance. Also, you can live outside for less than 3000, especially if you are willing to share. I was just giving a rough guideline.

As for getting in touch with chinese people, well it depends. I actually work in Shanghai, although currently only part-time, which is why I can study at Jiaotong. So I get a fair amount of practise with my colleagues. Otherwise you can always find language exchange partners at the uni, or just looking on the web, but just be aware that there are a lot of people looking on the web for partners are strange. You could also try joining some activities, depending on what you are interested in.

This is my final term in Jiaotong, as I will either continue working full-time afterwards, or move onto something else.

The reason I chose Jiaotong in the first place is because I knew someone else who had studied there, and also because I was quite familiar with the area around Xujiahui. However, as it is the only place I have been to chinese classes, I have no idea how it compares with other unis. I suspect, however, that most university course are more or less the same. After all, there's only so much scope for variation in a language class. How good a class is depends on the teacher, and you could get a good or bad teacher anywhere. At Jiaotong, some are better then others, but so far I've not had any very bad ones. If I were to choose again, I definitely wouldn't choose against Jiaotong. As I said, I guess most uni courses are similar, so I'd be more concerned about location, cost, etc. and choose whichever uni is best in those respects.

[yaritai]

@ Renjie,

So which university did you end up picking and what is the feedback?

[renjie]

in the end i decided in favour of jiaotong. i've been studying there for a couple of months now and i am fairly satisfied. the teachers are ok and the campus is nice. however, its difficult to make chinese friends here, as most of the chinese students study at another campus. in this respect, ecnu has the edge.

[Menino80]

Bump. I'm looking into Jiatong as well, and I would like to know if there are a lot of Korean and Japanese students on that campus. I would imagine barring Chinese people, they're the best group to practice with.

[renjie]

yup, loads of korean and japanese students at jiaoda's chinese language school. but, as i said, its difficult to get in touch with chinese students there.

[Menino80]

OK, I will chalk that up to the price of the location I prefer. Thanks for the info.

[NDeft]

Renjie,

Which university did you decide on? Am interested as am going through the same decision-making process at the moment.

Thanks.

[renjie]

jiaotong uni. and i dont regret my choice. jiaotong uni looks much better than ecnu on your cv.. . sadly, reputation is everything. i have a couple of friends at ecnu and they told me that the chinese language programs at jiaoda and ecnu are more or less the same. same textbooks, same teaching methods etc. . however, you should stay away from fudan. many people told me that their chinese language program is crap and some of my classmates actually dropped out of fudan after one semster and enrolled at jiaoda.

[NDeft]

Great, thanks!

[yaritai]

Would agree about the negative feedback from Fudan... quite a few drop out.. or change universities...

Probably based on 2 things

1) Location

2) Quality of teaching

Jiaotong for sure has better status. In terms of campus facilities... it's an older campus.

The gym is really old... i.e. in the city campus.

ECNU campus looks nicer and is bigger. You'll also find more Europeans at this campus.

However, the Jiaotong Minhang campus of course is much nicer than ECNU. However, it is fairly far away from the city.

Both Jiaotong and ECNU are fairly organised. Would probably be good to try a semester at each for a real comparison.

[anonymoose]

I can't say anything about the quality of teaching at Fudan, but as far as location is concerned, I think that previously, one of the main problems was that access to other parts of the city was inconvenient.

However, now (as of April 2010), there is a new metro line (Line 10), that has stops near Fudan (at Wujiaochang and Guoquan Lu), which makes getting to the centre of Shanghai much easier and faster.

[aldunn]

Hi, so after googling around and finding useful threads such as this (thanks guys!) I think I've decided to apply for ECNU for the semester beginning Feb 2010. I also hear promising things about the Confucius Institute Scholarships at ECNU too. My general plan was to apply for something like a 3 month course and take it from there, with a view to possibly studying for 6 months in total. Having said that I'm open to signing up for 6 months straight away. Does anybody have any advice regarding this?

Also, can anybody fill me in on the fundamental difference between ECNU's Intensive (30hrs/wk) course and the Long-Term Programme (20hrs/wk), other than cost which seems proportionate to class time. Other universities seem to have similar structures. Any advice?

[twinkler09]

Hi everyone. I'm thinking about going to ECNU too and would love it if any one has any feedback on their courses. And like aldunn, it would be great to know how their intensive course compares to their long term 20 hour course. I'd really appreciate any thoughts you guys have. Cheers.