Overseas college division from university

[joshuawbb]

During the three years I've been studying in Xiamen I've begun to notice this more and more; that the Overseas Education College where I do my degree seems divided from the rest of Xiamen university - not physically but in most other ways. I'm wondering, of all here who are also studying in Chinese universities, do you feel the same way? Let me explain.

I'm in the third year of a Business Chinese degree, which as a degree from the Overseas Education College means it is directed towards foreigners, though it is taught in Chinese. In a lot of ways there's a sort of wall between our college and the rest of the university, which may be somewhat natural given that half of the college are its Chinese language courses, but on the degree level this makes me uncomfortable.

I'm certain our university has some form of a student union, along with certain societies like many others have, but I've just realised that neither I nor any of the classmates I asked know anything about them. Indeed they apparently exist, but our college takes no part in them, gives no right to join, and provides no direction on how one might integrate in the same way with the other Chinese colleges. I don't mean generally integrating with Chinese students - that I've not had a problem with - it's integration in the way any usual university might join its colleges, students and societies together.

I often go out with Chinese friends and integrate with Chinese students, but then I always hear from them how such-and-such dormitory held a joint celebration, X college is holding activities with Y college, students from these dorms and colleges get together often, or how there are apparently university-wide clubs, etc. In the three years I've been here, to my memory our overseas college has not once displayed any sort of the above integration with other colleges or societies, put forward any invitation to integrate with the Chinese societies or clubs, or bothered to encourage our college to join in the big picture. I haven't yet been to visit said clubs/societies just yet but I most definitely plan to soon. A few teachers feel doubtful that foreign students would be able to participate in the Chinese college activities but anyway, I'll see for myself.

There are other sides to the picture too of course. Talking with fellow Chinese students one topic that usually comes up is the ol' English and how many don't feel confident about speaking it. Whenever this comes up I always say there's a big overseas college filled with foreign students, why don't they drop in and get to know some people, or just say hi? Many say the same thing - they dare not go in; it's the overseas college for foreign students, they wouldn't feel comfortable going in and besides, the security would throw them out. And they've got a point - I used to bring my girlfriend in with me to chat in the cafe or meet friends, but she told me that once when she walked around alone, the guard recognised her as Chinese, and rudely told her to mind her own business and leave the premises unless she was studying TCFL there. This was the public reception area, not a classroom. Mind you though, the guard there is humourless and can be rude in general anyway.

The point is, and I am in no way blaming them or saying all are like it, but most Chinese who I've talked to also feel like the college is separate in a way. They don't dare go near it, feeling it's not their business to do so.

My last point is that many of my classmates seem to consider themselves as part of a separate entity to the "Chinese parts" of the university too. I am not at all trying to generalise them and claim they don't integrate - not at all, and many do integrate. It's just that when I ask around, sometimes I get the feeling I'm one of few who go out with often or really get involved with Chinese people. Of course, it's everyone's choice and depends on what you're there for. But we're a BA course and you'll be sticking around for quite a long time in China to commit to a course.

When I ask around my course, it's not the fact that they don't know about colleges/societies either that bothers me, it's that they mostly don't care, meaning they also recognise the college as something separate and just participate like that. The response I tend to get is "So what if our college doesn't integrate with the rest of the university? Our college is different from theirs, our degree is different from theirs, we do our own things." For reference, our college is right next to Chinese dormitories and canteens - it's in no way physically separate.

I came here to study a BA degree and wanted student life to be much alike a Chinese student's. The above response I usually got I suppose is quite a lot down to the degree itself. I didn't have too much confidence in it to start with, and what they say confirms my worries really. But regardless, as long as I leave with a BA certificate I can be done with it. No need to bring up regret. To be honest I'm feeling more and more that the most important heart of student life is missing from this college and experience.

Others who are also studying in China, do you get this feeling? Particularly if you're doing a degree. Thanks for reading

[anonymoose]

I can empathise with all the things you've mentioned.

One thing I'd like to add, though, is that from my own observations, student life in China is very different from that in the UK in the sense that extra-curricular activities play a much larger part in the UK. It seems many students in the UK spend a larger proportion of their time on extra-curricular activities than studying, be it socialising, drinking at the university bar (as if even the thought of such a thing could be tolerated in China!), sports and so on. When I was at university in the UK, I participated in national university sports competitions, and in the run-up to a competition, we would be pracitising for at least a couple of hours per day, and sometimes substantially more. And that is on top of all sorts of other activities.

In China, on the other hand, it seems that students spend most of their time studying, and when not studying, they usually participate in their own unofficial activities. Universities do have organised clubs, but I feel that participation and commitment is on a much lower level than in the UK. For comparison, I checked out the sports at a university in Shanghai, and they had only two weekly 1-hour sessions of the same sport I was involved with daily in the UK.

Anyway, if you want to participate in some of the Chinese students' activities, I guess you would be more than welcome, but just don't have too high expectations on the level of organisation. Even finding out information and who to contact regarding such things can be a feat in itself.

[msittig]

I haven't studied at a Chinese university, but I've worked at a few Chinese companies and what you describe is still very familiar to me. I've had to be very 主动/proactive about integrating myself, and as I move into leadership positions I will see what I can do about integrating others as well. I've found that the cause is a mix of language, culture and history, and that it takes a lot of effort to break through the barrier (and I'm still not there 100%).

One factor that always stands in my way is that no matter how much I try to equalize my interactions with Chinese colleagues there will always be latent differences that stand in the way of true integration. For example, I can try to meet the same performance review requirements as my Chinese colleagues instead of settling for the relaxed requirements for foreign teachers; I can go to all of the Chinese-language meetings that overseas staff are actually excused from attending; and I can volunteer to take on responsibilities that are by default given to the Chinese teachers. But no matter how close I get, there are elephants in the room: my salary is several times higher than theirs, I don't actually have to attend the meetings if I'm busy with something else, I can always bow out of some responsibility and nobody will blink an eye about it, and there will always be certain nationality-based programs that I'm excluded from like Party membership or awards/training for certified local teachers.