Research: who is the average foreign student in China??

[Poemba]

Hey guys,

For my thesis I'm conducting a research on who the average foreign student in China is.

Such as, how old they are, where they're from, how they got to china, etc.

It would really help me out if you guys could answer some questions for me. In total there are 11 questions, it won't take you long to answer them! And I think a lot of people will be interested.

It's basically for everyone who is going to study in China, who is studying in China and who used to be a student in China. Remark: its not for people who just came to China to work.

It will only take you 2 minutes!

Please go here and it fill it in!: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OHPrvtKBi8zkkZFgYxOXGw_3d_3d

Edited October 22, 2009 at 03:11 PM by Poemba
It's better to organize the results this way.

[Sarevok]

1. What is/was your reason for coming to China?

To study Chinese, I guess...

2. If you are a foreign student, did your university arrange for you to study in China?

Kind of, I major in Chinese philology (that's how they call it at my uni) and I was awarded with a special kind of CSC scholarship... Candidates for this scholarship are always chosen by our Department of Asian Studies, based on study results, but that's only the initial step. Otherwise, the student has to arrange (almost) everything (like choosing the school, undergoing a medical examination, applying for the visa etc.) by himself...

3. Did you subscribe to the university yourself? (and paying the tuition yourself)

No, see above...

4. Did you make use of a company to arrange your studies in China?

No, see above...

5. How old are you?

26... but I was 23, when I was there for the first time (on the above-mentioned scholarship)

6. Where are you from?

Czech Republic

7. How long is your intended stay in China?

It was 2 semesters

8. Do you work next to your studies in China? If so, what kind of work do you do?

I did some work here and there (mostly teaching English at various schools), but it was not really needed as the scholarship was quite generous and the living expenses low... so I could fully concentrate on my studies

9. What do you think of the Chinese language programs at Chinese universities?

No complaints about the courses at Xi'an Jiaotong University (where I was studying at that time), although some subjects/teachers were better than others... but the overall quality was okay and time I spent there was not spent in vain (I also liked the additional courses like the HSK prep course... well, that was the only one I attended ). But I hear the quality of these programs varies greatly and at some universities leaves a lot to be desired (few of my Czech classmates were not as lucky and the school, which was chosen for them offered only mediocre courses).

10. Do you study at a university or a private school? Or both?

For the first time, it was only the above mentioned university... when I was in China for the second time, I attended a short-time 1 month course, which I paid for myself, but it was also at a university (Shenyang Normal University). Basically, it was an 1 on 1 course with a teacher from that uni and I was free to choose what I wanted to study (we were not using a textbook all the time).

11. At which university or private school do/did you study in China?

Xi'an Jiaotong University (1 year, 2006/2007), Shenyang Normal University (1 month, summer 2008)

[kdavid]

Question: what about those who came to China to study, but worked as a means to finance studying and living? Could they take this survey?

Also, have you considered using an online survey site such as surveymonkey or something of that sort? It would be an easier and more efficient way to organize your results.

[Poemba]

Sarevok: Thanks a lot for your reply!

Kdavid: Sure, you can also fill in the form. I havent investigated those online survey sites. Thanks for the tip. I used to work with a few of them, but they all had serious problems. A lot of errors and stuff, so I thought this might be better. But, I haven't check them in some time already

[adrianlondon]

The majority of students, at least those that I saw wandering around BNU and BLCU campuses a couple of years ago, were Asian (Korean, Japanese and Indonesian). They tend not to use this website.

[Poemba]

That's definetely true. Although I have seen more and more people from the west coming to China. And I think in the next coming years more and more European and American students will come to study in China.

The interview I made is not something I can directly put in my thesis, but its something that will definitely help me understand more about the average student coming to China. Or I could maybe better say: about the average non-asian student coming to China.

EDIT: I followed up your guys advice and made it on surveymonkey.com!! Check it out.

Edited October 22, 2009 at 11:32 AM by Poemba

[Poemba]

Guys, please help me out by filling in the survey!!

[Daan]

Done!

[WilsonFong]

I'm too busy to fill in the survey right now, but I think a brief answer to your question is: Korean.

[fanglu]

I'm sure you've thought about this, but if this is serious research this is not really a good way to get representative results. This website tends to be native or almost native english speakers (as opposed to the overwhelming majority of korean, japanese and european-language speakers amongst chinese learners). Secondly, the proportion of users (regular posters at least) with high level chinese is probably higher than of foreign chinese learners in general. Also, people who use this website tend to be people who are highly interested in learning chinese and have been so for a long period, which can not necessarily be said for all foreign students in china.

What this all means that even if you are really only interested in the qualitative part of the survey (ie question 9), you are going to get quite distorted results as I would guess this audience is more likely to hold favourable views about their studies than the wider CSL cohort.

In my view it would be better to make contact with some chinese teachers at various schools in china and have their classes fill out the survey in class at the end of a teaching term. That way you would get a better sample.

PS - This is just my view - I did take the survey.

[Don_Horhe]

Did it. I do, although, agree to some extent with Fanglu. Take me, for example - probably the only Bulgarian on this forum, and in Wuhan alone there's another 7 of us, not to mention other cities, none of which come here.

[Poemba]

Fanglu, thanks for your comment. I definitely see where you're going. The idea about going to Chinese teachers in China and let their students fill in my survey, is a great idea.

My only problem is, I'm not in China right now

Basically this forum is the best place to find people who studied in China, thats why I saw this as my only option.

I maybe should consider taking some in-depth interviews with students who studied in China, just to see what they are saying.

Until that time, I'm definitely collecting some results I can use. So I'm happy everybody is still filling in my survey.

If anyone has suggestions on how to conduct a better survey, let me know. I'm still just a student, meaning I still have a lot to learn

[Daan]

You could also try getting in touch with some universities/language centres and asking them for a breakdown of their student population. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't really mind providing details such as student numbers, countries of origin, etc. But then you never know, of course, and I don't know whether this would be useful to you at all, either.