Going to China for University/College?

[LordTacodip]

I know it sounds pretty far-fetch'd since I'm currently only a couple of months into my first year of Chinese, but at the moment I'm so interested in the language, culture, and history of China.

I have never really had any family here in the United States, and the majority of my childhood friends have moved away back to their mother countries (Back to India, Philippines, South Korea, etc.) I really want to learn and train myself in Mandarin Chinese, so I am at the moment contemplating about just leaving the US and hopefully find a suggested or highly recommended University or College; this way I can hopefully further develop myself and gain a decent accent. I heard a lot about Xiamen.

Even though I'm honestly seriously thinking about this life changing move, I don't even know if it'll be possible.

My questions:

Will I be able to go to China right after High school here in the US? Not immediately, but let's just say a year.

Will I even be able to be accepted to some University or College there? What am I required to do?

Should I consider going to Taiwan over China? What are the requirements to go to a University in Taiwan?

What do you all suggest?

Edited November 22, 2009 at 08:17 PM by LordTacodip

[BrandeX]

What do you all suggest?

Getting an American degree.

[mikeygow]

Hi

There are a few options for you, where you can obtain a UK Undergraduate degree studying in China. The US doens't, to my knowledge, have anything similar to this at UG level.

Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University (XJTLU) is a joint venture university located in Suzhou. Its campus is in the Suzhou Industrial Park Higher Education Zone, about 5km from Suzhou. It has good public transport links and is not far from Jinji Lake and Dushu Lake. It is also only 15m by train from Shanghai (one the new highspeed rail link opens in July 2010). XJTLU offers UG programmes in business, science, computer science and engineering. All programmes are taught in English, but international students take Mandarin classes throughout their UG studies.

University of Nottingham Ningbo (UNNC) is located in Ningbo, on the opposite side of Hangzhou Bay to Shanghai. They offer UG courses in Business, int'l relations, int'l comms and also have recently started offering science and engineering. Nottingham is regarded by many Chinese as one of the best universities in the world and it is highly ranked in the UK and World league tables.

Shanghai British College offers degree programmes from 9 UK Universities including Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, and 6 other UK uni's. It is located on Fuxing Zhong Lu in Shanghai's Old French Concession. SBC is part of USST, but is run and adminstered by NCUK, a collection of top and mid ranking Universities in the North of England.

All these uni's have advantages and disadvantages. There are not many int'l students at UG level, so you would be studying in English with other Chinese students. However, your degree would include a large emphasis on Chinese language.

SBC would be a great place to study, given its location in Shanghai. UNNC is the longest established, and offers the widest number of courses. XJTLU is located in a modern park and Suzhou really is a great place to live (I live in Suzhou and prefer it to both Beijing and Shanghai after spending over a year in both). However, there is no doubt that Beijing and Shanghai offer vibrant student scenes (Wudaokou in Beijing is full of foreign students). For someone so young, Ningbo and Suzhou will not offer a great deal of parties and the sorority/fraternity lifestyle at US universities. But if you're serious about learning China, both Ningbo and Suzhou offer a better chance to immerse yourself in the language.

You could study for UG at a Chinese University (in Chinese). You would need good high school results and a minimum score of 6 in the HSK exam. But the system of learning at Chinese universities is a lot different from the US/UK style. Expect to read and memorize a lot of theory, don't expect to be developing any problem solving skills. Chinese HE is still very much a "teacher-centred" mentailty, whereas the options mentioned above are more "student-centred" learning experience.

Hope this was of use to you, and if you need anymore info, I can put you directly in touch with the correct people at XJTLU, UNNC and SBC. But check their websites first to see if you like the look of them.

Mike

[adenhertog]

if you want to knuckle down & study there, go to the NE provinces - Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jilin. You'll be surrounded with standard (or near standard) speakers this way.

Don't get too hung up on university names or reputations. The education system is backwards, and you're going to get the same useless, repetitive drills wherever you go. Find the cheapest uni that will give you a student visa, then find a one-on-one tutor for 20yuan/hr. 4 hours of that a day is far more valuable, and you can still go back to uni to socialize.

Regardless of where you go, chances are it won't be recognized outside of China. If you want to solidify your qualifications then at some point graduate from a US school, or drill through the HSK.

Have fun. Live amongst the locals. You'll love it.

[zhouhaochen]

hey,

many big Chinese Universities (Bei Da, Tsinghua, BLCU etc.) offer options for foreign students to get their degree there. It is usually first one year of language training, after which you have to get a certain HSK score and then you can study whatever you want there.

I have quite a few friends who did that and if you are interested in China and see your professional future here, I think it is a good move.

Be careful how that degree will be perceived back home though, not sure if it might not be better to get a degree from a western university. Though I would imagine a degree from Bei Da cannot really be looked down upon by anyone anymore.

[LordTacodip]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to type out such meaningful and helpful replies!

It took a lot of thinking and pondering to decide on where to go, but like I said, I don't see much potential here in an American university.

I love the Mandarin language and the culture, but this sealed the deal:

My Chinese professor is from Taiwan and he spoke to me concerning studying in China, and he mentioned that he has a lot of contacts at the National Taipei University, and if I work hard, he will do his best to allow me to get admitted as a foreign student.

This is the only connection I have personally, so at the moment, going to Taiwan is my decision; he also mentioned that since I can speak English very well, I can help teach English there. However, the major I plan to go into requires me to earn a score of level four on the Test of Proficiency (TOP) Huayu.

He told me it won't be too difficult to score that high since I have another year ahead of me to study Mandarin. Is that true? Is there any other books which will help me study Mandarin (Taiwan)? I have acquired the two textbooks Far East Everyday Chinese and also the Audio-Visual textbook, along with a Far East dictionary.

I am also learning Changjie; are there any computer programs or textbooks that will help me study this as well?

Thank you all again so much!

Edited November 22, 2009 at 08:21 PM by LordTacodip

[zhouhaochen]

personal connections are always the best, I am sure its the same in Taiwan as in China

good luck!

[Jackie Chav in Shanghai]

Yes I agree with Mike above that the British campuses in Ningbo, Suzhou and Shanghai offer a unique way to study Chinese and get a British Degree in English as the media of instruction. There is no better way to learn Chinese than to be immersed in real daily life in China.

The basic academic programmes and educational environment in all 3 are similar, with mainly native English speaking lecturers teaching courses delivered entirely English leading to the award of a degree certificate from a UK university.

Having visited the 3 British campuses in China, they all have advantages and disadvantages. Below is a snapshot comparison of the three:

Ningbo

- degree from a good-ranking UK university: Nottingham

- programmes in Business, Communications and Science

- pathways available: 4+0 (4 years in Ningbo) / 2+1+1 (2 Years in Ningbo + 1 in Nottingham + 1 in Ningbo)

- large campus with many buildings and many mosquitos

- inconvenient transportation and very far from downtown city centre

- limited access to international culture, food, shopping, entertainment and nightlife

- limited access to internships and work opportunities

- total undergraduate students ~4,000 (~5.4% international)

- postgraduate programmes available

- tuition price RMB 80,000 per year (international)

- webpage: http://www.nottingham.edu.cn

Suzhou

- degree from a medium ranking UK university: Liverpool

- programmes in Business and Science

- pathways available: 4+0 (4 years in Suzhou) / 2+1+1 (2 Years in Suzhou + 1 in Liverpool + 1 in Suzhou)

- large campus with many buildings and many mosquitos

- inconvenient transportation and very far from city centre

- limited access to international culture, food, shopping, entertainment and nightlife

- limited access to internships and work opportunities

- total undergraduate students ~3,500 (~1.4% international)

- postgraduate programmes available

- tuition price RMB 80,000 per year (international)

- webpage: http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en

Shanghai

- degree from 9 high-to-medium ranking UK universities:

Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Liverpool John Moores, Leeds Metropolitan, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield Hallam, Salford

- programmes in Business, Events Management and Engineering

- pathways available: 4+0 (4 years in Shanghai) / 2+1+1 (2 Years in Shanghai + 1 in Sheffield + 1 in Shanghai) / 2+2 to any of the 9 partner universities

- small cosy campus with few buildings and few mosquitos

- very convenient transportation in downtown central Shanghai

- excellent access to international culture, food, shopping, entertainment and nightlife

- excellent access to internships and work opportunities

- total undergraduate students ~1,800 (~7.5% international)

- postgraduate programmes available next year

- tuition price RMB 66,000 per year (international)

- webpage: http://www.sbc-usst.edu.cn/en

Choosing any one of these options for your further education in English and the fact that you will learn Chinese language and culture in your daily life is certain to give you a life changing experience and at least will give you an outstanding resume !

Jackie Chav

April 16, 2013

[Sam Fairhall 92]

@Jackie Chav, thankyou for your review.

 

Did you end up going to any of those universities?

[kdavid]

A degree from an American university is going to be worth so much more to you in the future than a degree from either the PRC or ROC.

 

It's great that you're interested in Chinese studies. If this is the path you want to take, do your research on unis in the US which have good CS programs for undergraduates. You'll undoubtedly have opportunities to study abroad.

 

I can't stress this enough: Young people who take time away from uni after high school have difficulty returning at a later date. While "dropping it all" sounds great now, you'll be discouraged when you find the value of your PRC or ROC degree does not make you as competitive as those with US degrees.

 

There are wonderful undergrad and grad programs which will allow you to do so much more in addition to studying abroad.

 

My two cents.

[Sam Fairhall 92]

A degree from one of those universities mentioned, however, would be just as good as a degree from the USA. The degrees are awarded by those British universities, and they are world renowned - especially Nottingham. I checked it out, it seems the majority of the staff are British nationals.

[kdavid]

If that's the case, then great.

 

Another issue that the OP needs to carefully consider is that living in a foreign country long-term, especially the PRC, is not easy.

 

Obviously, I say this with my own biases and prejudices. I'm sure many people have been living here longer than I have, with no intentions of returning to their home country.

 

Perhaps it's the conservative in me speaking, but I'd recommend one take baby steps before jumping in the deep end. Doing a semester or two abroad, perhaps even in different places, before committing to a full-on move would be more judicious.

 

Either way, good luck. It will certainly be a great learning experience!

[gato]

What about qualifications other than British citizenship?

You should know that most English-taught programs in China are designed for local Chinese students. The draw for them is that they get to improve their English, and earn a foreign degree in some cases. Given the gap in English proficiency, the rigor of the classes generally would not be what you would find in comparable classes in English-speaking countries.

[Sam Fairhall 92]

Gato, according to their website the classes are comparable and are taught at the same standard as their institutions based in England, and the teachers are usually the same (working between the two).

 

I agree, it could be completely different in reality which is why it would be nice to hear from someone who has actually been there - as this is all speculative. Unfortunately, the numbers of international students in these Chinese universities is small - so we're unlikely to stumble across any on these forums.

 

My advice would be for the OP to contact the university and directly ask that question.

[xit]

Sorry for posting on an older topic, but this seems like the right one for what I'm about to ask. Don't judge.

 

Basicly what I want to ask is...Is it possible? And what do I need to do to make it happen? It's just a thought, came out of nowhere, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right? (Ouch). Now, the system is different for every country, but what I'm talking about is university, the thing that comes after high school. I'm in my early 20s, I only have the three years equivalent of high school, so I'd have to get the fourth one too. Also, I would probably need the HSK 5 certificate, right? What else? I don't want to study mandarin, I want to study in mandarin. So no english based courses. Would I have to take the 高考 ? Is there any chance for an old(ish) average foreigner who's not form the US, UK, EU, but from a random small, not-so-well-off country, to do this? What kind of major would I be able to choose?

 

My ultimate goal here is still to learn chinese, so even if this is impossible, I'm still going to keep studying it on my own. It's just that I've recently heard a sentence,something along the lines of, life is about collecting experiences. And this would be an amazing experience to collect. It would also be a huge change in my life, and there are a lot of things I would have to do, and I'd have to invest time in it, but if it were possible...

 

I want to get my chinese to a level where I can study with other native students. That is where the whole idea originated form. I want to be fluent in chinese. What is 'fluent'? I want to be at the level of a native university graduate. How are you going to do that? Well, maybe I should first study the hsk levels, and then work my way up. You need to study harder. Yes, I will...And so on and so forth...And then it hit me. If I want to achieve THAT level, then I have to do that. Just like imron (one of the members on this forum said): if you want to learn to read the newspaper, you need to read it...or something like that...That sentence changed my life. If I want to achieve my goals, then I just have to do it. But, is it possible? Given everything that I said above, would any university even consider me? Would I be able to get into any major that isn't language related? What do I do? Ah, also, would I be able to find a job with it? In China? Or if all of this isn't possible to do in China, then what about other countries that also use chinese?

[anonymoose]

Well, let's start with the last questions first.

 

Ah, also, would I be able to find a job with it? In China? Or if all of this isn't possible to do in China, then what about other countries that also use chinese?

 

Certianly having a Chinese degree is better than having no degree.

 

Also, you could easily get a job in any country (that you have the right to work in). The relevant question here is whether you could find a job that appeals to you, and that depends on what appeals to you.

 

Just remember though that a diploma is just a piece of paper. At the end of the day, it is your actual skills that have value.

 

Would I have to take the 高考 ?

 

No. The entry requirements are different for foreigners.

 

I want to be fluent in chinese. What is 'fluent'? I want to be at the level of a native university graduate.

 

I don't want to discourage you, but if that is your goal, you can forget it right there. Essentially you are asking to have not only native speaker level, but well-educated top native speaker level. I'm not sure even Da Shan qualifies for that. However, with hard work, you could certainly get to a proficient level.

 

Basicly what I want to ask is...Is it possible?

 

Yes. At least at the universities in Shanghai and presumably the other cities, there are quite a lot of foreigners doing just that.

 

However, if you really want to do it, try to read more about other people's experiences. Reality may differ greatly from your expectations.

[xit]

Thank you for the reply. So, if I'm going to do this, what do I need to do/get first? Can I do it without a degree from my home country, i.e. from scratch? Also how good does my chinese need to be? Could you, maybe, tell me what majors, in general, are available for me, and would make me 'employable'? So that I could compare it to my interests, and maybe even start preparing in advance. Thank you very much.