Undergraduate Degree at Nanchang

[Awais Kazi]

Hey guys, I'm currently going to take admission at JIAO TONG University Shangai or Nanchang, and I'm going to do my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in ENGLISH MEDIUM .. just wanted to know if the degree would be valuable, or is it beneficial to get undergrad degree from the mentioned two universities ? in ENGLISH

[gato]

Shanghai Jiaotong University is among the top 5 engineering schools in China. It's much more highly regarded than Nanchang. Don't know anything about their classes taught in English, though.

[Awais Kazi]

gate : hmm, I'm sure about English medium thingy in Nanchang .. know anything about that ?

[renzhe]

I don't think that any degree from a Chinese university taught in to foreigners in English has much international standing, to be honest. The courses might be good or bad (like gato says, Jiaotong is a top university by any measure), but internationally Chinese universities are not known. A small number of universities (like Tsinghua, Beida and the like) are known as breeding institutions for top talent which then ends up at top international universities, and people might respect Chinese people coming out of them, but this says nothing about courses in English taught to foreigners.

But there are huge advantages to doing your degree abroad. You can learn Chinese if you put a lot of work into it. 4 years of immersion are plenty of time to become conversational and learn to read, even in your spare time. Chinese language is a great addition to your CV. Having lived abroad is also a great bonus -- many companies and universities have international teams and intercultural communication is very important. Studying alone abroad will make you a stronger person in ways you cannot imagine right now. It will make you extremely attrative to any company doing any business with China. You'll get a "wow" from any Chinese or anyone who has lived in China. Etc.

But it's highly unlikely that an American or a German or a Briton will say "Wow, a degree from Nanchang/Jiaotong? That's impressive!" That's simply not how things are at the moment.

[yonglin]

renzhe: Given that the original poster states his location as "Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan", it is not implausible that he is choosing between attending a university in China and (for example) Pakistan (or the vicinity). Since a number of Chinese universities (including Shanghai Jiaotong) score above all Pakistani universities in some international comparisons, I'm not so sure about your assertion.

Awais Kazi: Whether the degree will be "valuable" depends very much on the circumstances: renzhe just suggested how the degree might be perceived in the US, Germany or the UK -- in other places, things might be different. The best way to find out would be approaching prospective employers and ask for their opinion, or getting in touch with alumni of the programs in question.

[renzhe]

Shanghai Jiaotong is a good school indeed, but it doesn't have that much international name recognition outside of China, and same goes for most Pakistani universities. In Pakistan, a good Pakistani degree might be preferred.

So the decision, in my opinion, should be based on whether he is going to appreciate and enjoy the time spent abroad and all the advantages (and disadvantages) this brings.

Personally, I'd go for it

[Awais Kazi]

haha, thats why I'm going for it too

Plus, I'm currently studying in this university

http://www.4icu.org/reviews/3524.htm

..

since, the Good thing in Pakistan is .. our OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH .. most of Pakistani's know well English and others can't speak fluently .. but still they can speak ..

This benefits Pakistan from China .. lot of my cousins passed out from "Mehran University of Engineering and Tech" (the university in which I'm studying) are working in US/ENGLAND and Australia .. this University is Good at ranking for Pakistan ..

yonglin and renze what would you guys do if you were me

P.S : I'm financially very weak, the chances of me having a Good life here is less .. and you can't even imagine how hard it is to find a job (this goes for Part-time job aswell) atleaast in china, I would be doing part time jobs and may get my life better than what it is now ? :)