Graduate School in China

[Harvey]

Hello everyone,

Does anyone go to China to study anything other than Chinese?

Could one go to China, without knowing any Chinese, in order to get a degree in some other subject?

For example, in Japan there is a university called Temple, where you can get an MBA and the course work is all lin English.

Anything like that in China?

Thanks for any tips!

-Harvey

[Harvey]

Hey guys, sorry to bump my ancient posts but...

Does this really mean that foreigners don't enroll in schools in China for anything other than learning Chinese? There has got to be something out there!

[monkey_c]

Yeah, there are foreigners who study at Chinese universities in fields other than Chinese language. But guess what, they know enough Chinese to take coursework in Chinese. Met an Arab at Shanghai Jiaotong who was majoring in Computer Science.

Officially you need to be at HSK level 6 for sciences and HSK 8 (?) for liberal arts. Dunno whether it's actually enforced stringently.

[roddy]

The only English language graduate courses I know of would be things like MBAs, where the materials and instructors are imported. I'm not even sure that those are very common.

[Zhende ma?]

When I was in Beijing I remember reading an article in the 新京报 newspaper about the rise of MBA programs in China. One part was about foreign MBA students coming to study in China, the other part was about local MBA students. From what I remember they said there was a high demand by MBA students from the US (they only talked about US schools) like Wharton, Northwestern, Harvard, etc. to study in China and each year their numbers were increasing. These schools have programs at Chinese universities. I am sure the average MBA from the US in these programs speaks little or no Chinese though they may take courses in it on arrival. Maybe you could find out who these schools partner with and see if they have a full or part-time MBA program in English. You maybe could get at least a semester in. I have also heard of EMBA programs but a lot of these are for Chinese execs so are likely completely in Mandarin. Also, I would limit my search to schools in Beijing and Shanghai just because these are probably the best quality.

As for other grad schools, Roddy is probably right. They are likely exclusively in Chinese so you would need to take at least a year of language before you enroll.

[Harvey]

Anyone heard of this place? BiMBA.

http://www.bimba.edu.cn/english/en/xm01.php

[Zhende ma?]

I don't know anything about that school, but I have two good possibilities.

#1 Here is the English language page of the Guanghua School of Management at Beijing University

http://mba.pku.edu.cn/index_en.html

As far as universities go, Beijing University is considered China's best (like Tokyo University in Japan) so their program would have to be worth something (at least the name )

They have an international MBA that is in English and the admissions seems relatively straightforward (take the GMAT test though). The only thing I am not sure of is how much weight this MBA would carry outside of China. However, maybe it could allow you to get good connections in China and some good jobs which is always good on any resume.

#2 Here is the page of the MBA at Tsinghua University (China's MIT). According to the MIT/Sloan business school site, this IMBA program is ranked #1 out of all 56 IMBA programs in China so it's definitely worth looking at. Their site is here:

http://www.em.tsinghua.edu.cn/mbaen/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=731

[gumbico]

Actually, the only two MBA programs worth mentioning to foreigners are CEIBS and HKUST . These are accredited in the US and EU and are taught completely in English. Rankings are impressive as well.

Of course, this is just my opinion. Don't mean any disrespect to the other MBA programs in China. Just looking at it from a western perspective.

[Harvey]

Thanks this is very valuable information!

How about advanced degrees other than MBA's? Has anyone heard of anyone getting another type fo degree on Mainland China or Taiwan?

[gougou]

Some time ago, I read about Fudan being China's most reputed business school, so I am quite surprised not to see it surfacing in this thread. How come? Was I just reading some home-made PR? They do have programs with MIT and Germany's Hamburg university, so I figure they can't be all that bad...

[Zhende ma?]

Yes, I guess I was lazy and didn't look it up. Fudan is excellent as well and has the advantage of being near Shanghai, the mainland business hub. Their English website is here:

http://www.fdms.fudan.edu.cn/en/

As far as other graduate school goes, I think you would have to search for specific topics. To be honest, you can study anything at any level you want in China if you understand Chinese and have a high enough score on the HSK language exam. Outside of Law and MBA it is probably hard, especially in the humanities.

[Harvey]

As far as other graduate school goes, I think you would have to search for specific topics. To be honest, you can study anything at any level you want in China if you understand Chinese and have a high enough score on the HSK language exam. Outside of Law and MBA it is probably hard, especially in the humanities.

Thanks for the tips. I'm pretty sure my Chinese will not be at a level to take a graduate degree instructed in Chinese language.

So, I am only interested in degrees offered in China, in English. Seems the only thing I have seen so far are MBA's and Law Degrees. If anyone knows of other types of degrees offered in English let me know!

Thanks for the tips on the business schools!

[self-taught-mba]

I also have an MBA, and have met MBAs that go to great programs that have a foreign study component abroad. I think this maybe a better choice because which MBA program you select can mean the difference in life-time name brand recognition or "oh, never heard of that place".

Pick a good program first and if you want the Chinese experience, look for an internship/exchange abroad opp.

[Harvey]

Actually I'm not so interested in an MBA as a degree. Just interested in getting to China!

I think there is a chance though I could get a scholarship to go to grad schoool and get an MBA... and a free ride to China wouldn't be half bad...

But... Hrm.

Hey self-taught, are you on linkedin.com?

[mystico_tala]

Check out John Hopkins on this page

http://www.gradschools.com/listings/out/int_stud_out.html

It has degrees in Master of Arts in International Studies and Graduate Certificate in Chinese and American Studies

I don't really know much about the program, I'm studying in Beijing now and was researching on coming back for grad school.

[Harvey]

I have a question though. After living in China for a few years, how does one pay for grad school back in the states? Doesn't price tag make it impossible? Especially after living in China for so long and earning Yuan? Seriously wondering how people pull this off!

[mystico_tala]

If you do grad school in China you can get some scholarships if you are willing to sell your soul to the US government for a year or so. But going back to the states? Work part-time? Loans? I imagine it would be hard unless you had a high paying job in China. Most foreigners make more than chinese people would working the same jobs here. But probably not enough to pay for grad school. *shrugs* I suppose if you wanted it enough it would work out.

[pandaxiongmao]

If you do scientific research, your grants and whatnot will cover your tuition and living costs in the USA. Those grants don't necessarily come from the government, depending on your area of research. I don't know what you want to study in grad school, but in some cases it will be cheaper to go to grad school in the USA rather than China (from the perspective of how much you end up paying on your own).

[Harvey]

If you do grad school in China you can get some scholarships if you are willing to sell your soul to the US government for a year or so.

In this case, don't you have to begin your studies in the US though, and then go over to China?

Could you show me which scholarships you are refering to?