Living at Xi'an Jiaotong University

[Meshaq7]

Hello everyone,

I will be studying at Xi'an Jiaotong University this year thanks to a CSC scholarship. I have a few questions for anyone who might have been there as a student.

1. Are roommates pre-assigned and will I have any say in it at all? My preference would obviously be a Mandarin speaker, but at least a non-English speaker.

2. Does the campus have a curfew or rules about when you can come and go?

3. Is it possible to test up to a higher level (eg. move to a more advanced class) mid term? If not, what about between terms?

4. It says on the school website that you can travel "in China", but that you must get you itinerary approved and say where all you are going. Is this actually enforced or can you come and go as you please during the vacations? Also does this mean that they don't want you leaving China on the breaks?

I have tried writing the school but have gotten no reply as of you. Thanks for your input!

Edited August 9, 2009 at 08:05 PM by Meshaq7

[yonglin]

I was there as a short-term student some 2 years ago (oh my god, it's been so long...?!) I wrote about it here.

Back then, most students living in the dorm were Korean, with a couple of Japanese. Western students tended to live off-campus. I don't know about how room mates were assigned, since I was staying with my boyfriend. The rooms were quite run-down and a little dirty (I remember there was a hole in the ceiling in our bathroom). Of course, they might have renovated since...

The conveniently located school gates close pretty early (about 11pm perhaps?). We followed the example of the Chinese students and engaged in some gate-climbing (pants recommended if you're a girl). We were certainly captured on the security cameras, and I'm sure the security guards had a good laugh. We never came back so late that the foreigners' building had closed up (not sure if it does). The old man at the front desk was a very softspoken and helpful guy from what I can remember. Also, they provided good incentives for coming back on time by shutting on the hot water only between 9.30 and 11.00 or so in the evening (and an hour early in the morning). (They also managed to shut it off 10 minutes before the announced time: I remember always having to rinse off my shampoo in cold water). I can understand why people opted to live off-campus for more long-term stays.

The school is pretty small, with not too many differen classes and I would say quite a bit of flexibility.You'll be frustrated if you're at the advanced level, since course offerings would be very limited (their "advanced" was more like "upper intermediate"). I can't imagine they'd refuse to let you change classes if you'd feel like it. Maybe you'd have to pay the extra set of textbooks yourself.

Edited August 9, 2009 at 08:17 PM by yonglin

[Meshaq7]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply Yonglin! Good to hear that things are flexible and that the dorm students are mainly non-westerners. Did you experience any restriction regulations as far as travel? Also, they don't do room checks at night or have required lights-out times do they? (Bad memories from conservative boarding schools... shudder)

[yonglin]

Certainly no room checks. However, they ring a bell very loudly throughout the entire building I think 30 minutes before classes start and then again when they're supposed to start... just so that you won't miss out on any learning opportunities!

We did not experience any restrictions on travel (went to Henan and Gansu while living there), but on the other hand, I didn't see anything about that mentioned on their website either, so they might have implemented some new policy.

[fanglu]

I was on a CSC scholarship in 2008 at jiaoda.

1. Are roommates pre-assigned and will I have any say in it at all? My preference would obviously be a Mandarin speaker, but at least a non-English speaker.

The scholarship students are in a different dorm to the other language students. The scholarship student dorm is smaller and nicer than the language student dorm and is all individual rooms. Its all foreigners, lots of Africans when I was there, but it probably varies.

Oh and there were no bells in the scholarship dorm when I was there, probably because most students were not language students and so had classes at other times.

2. Does the campus have a curfew or rules about when you can come and go?

The campus gates are closed at night, but quite late. At the bigger gates you can still get in if you say you live there. The dorm building door was locked at midnight, to get in after that you had to wake up the caretaker, who did not like it, but did let you in.

3. Is it possible to test up to a higher level (eg. move to a more advanced class) mid term? If not, what about between terms?

You don't really need to 'test up' just talk about it with your teacher. You can do that at any time. When I was there there were only 5 levels, and the highest level was not really that high. What levels of class they run depends on what level the students they have that term are.

4. It says on the school website that you can travel "in China", but that you must get you itinerary approved and say where all you are going. Is this actually enforced or can you come and go as you please during the vacations? Also does this mean that they don't want you leaving China on the breaks?

I came and went as I wanted although I always told the dorm caretaker so they wouldn't think I'd been killed or something and my teachers if I was going to miss any class because I thought it was polite. I never got any travel approved and the scholarship office never mentioned it to me. They do get concerned if you miss too much class though, although I think 'too much' is quite a lot.

[Meshaq7]

Thanks for the info Fanglu! An individual room would be awesome... I had just resigned myself to having a roommate. It is also great to know that moving up a level would be possible. I studied in France for a year and it was like pulling teeth to get to move up. If you have any other advice or warnings for someone studying at Jiaoda as a CSC student, I would love to hear them.