Fudan, or ECNU?

[AstridTj]

Hey everyone,

I am new to this site, and will be spending 6 months in Shanghai in the beginning of next year to learn mandarin.

I am coming from Australia, and I do not speak any mandarin, well just yi tien tien. =P

I am considering between going to these two universities: Fudan or ECNU.

I heard Fudan is very reputable in teaching foreigners the Chinese language, whereas ECNU is not very reputable compared to Fudan in this area. The reason I considered ECNU is because it offers an intensive Chinese program of 30hours of learning a week, compared to the standard 20hours.

If anyone can help me compare the two universities in terms of:

• Teaching quality for a beginner like me, and intensity of homework and learning
  
• The type of foreigners that usually come to Fudan or ECNU
  
• University facilities and cleanliness
  
• Its convenience to the CBD, shops, clean food, cultural activities (if any), parks, etc.
  
• I would also like to be involved in some Chinese sport, like Kung Fu, while I'm there =)
  

Thank you very much in advance!! Looking forward to reading the responses =)

[Steph]

Hi Astrid,

I'm going to ECNU in a couple of months with my wife (We should arrive in Shanghai late February 2013) to study Chinese (intensive program) for one year.

We're Belgian, but we're living in Sydney for the moment. I've seen that you're from Australia as well. I don't speak any mandarin either.

I actually have the same questions, however, the i've read quite the opposite about the chinese language program at Fudan. I would say more than 95% of the comments (from foreigners) I could find were quite clear on the poor teaching quality at Fudan when it concerns chinese language (taught to non-chinese speaking people).

The few positive comments come from the classification of Fudan as a top university in China, which holds true as far as it concerns degree programs!

Where do you live in Australia?

We could exhange more information if you're interested.

I'd like to live off-campus, with the best access to the city center.

I also want to practice Kung Fu while there, and I'm definitively looking for a good gym.

Please people, post answers here!

In particular, what about the location of ECNU campus? How good/bad is it? easy access to the center?

thx in advance

Steph