Invitation says English but my classes are in Chinese

[goddess_hina]

Hello, 

 

I am studying for a Master's at Tongji Medical College located in Wuhan, China. I was sent an invitation letter to study at this campus and on the paper it says I was to be taught in English but I am being taught in Chinese. I have went to the administration about the language barrier but nothing has been done. I talked to my professors(through a translator) about how I can not understand the lesson and that I am supposed to be taught in English. The ones that can understand and speak English have refused to do so during class. I assume something can be done about this. Short of switching schools(I heard its really hard to do that) I am wondering what steps do I take next? Do I alert the consulate/embassy about this or am I to just to suck it up?

[ChTTay]

Was the course advertised in English from the beginning? How did you find out about it? Is it a course designed for foreign students?

The only courses I know about round here that are taught in English are ones targetting foreign students only. For example, Tsinghua does an International Relations masters in English.

If the school refuses to teach you in English and you don't speak Chinese at all or to a high enough standard, then I don't see you have any choice but to switch schools. Alternatively, take a break for a while and apply to a different University or country.

I'm not sure why you "assume" you can force professors or a school to do anything. Even if you could, it probably wouldn't help you in the long run anyway as your relationship with them would not be so good. Even if they agreed to speak in English, i doubt any of the material would be in English.

This all sounds like some "wires" have been crossed somewhere.

[anonymoose]

Sorry, I haven't got any practical suggestions for you, but this scenario seems to not be uncommon.

 

At a top university in Shanghai, there are two undergraduate medicine courses. One is in Chinese, which is mainly for local students, but international students can also take it. The fees are 42000 yuan/year, and the course lasts five years. The is also a course in English, for international students. I don't know the exact fees, but it is something like 70000+ yuan/year, and the course lasts six years (although the degree obtained is the same as the Chinese course). As you can see, the university makes much more money from international students taking the English course. From what I've heard though, most of the students are overseas Chinese, who have varying levels of Chinese, and a few non-Chinese who have no Chinese. Many of the teachers, seeing that the class is full of Chinese faces, then can't be bothered to speak in English, and just give the class in Chinese. For the ethnic Chinese students, some may be able to follow the class anyway, but for the students who don't know Chinese, of course they can't get anything from it. This is completely unreasonable, given that they have paid a premium especially to have the course in English.

 

So anyone coming to China to study, especially if they are expecting the course to be in English, should do their research carefully, and be prepared that the course will not meet their expectations.

 

Hope you can resolve your situation satisfactorily, but switching to another university may not help unless you know for certain that in practice they actually do do the classes in English.

[goddess_hina]

The program was advertised in English; when I got here I confirmed with the administration that the courses would be in English. It is not that I am forcing them, this is what the school has advertised and what I signed up for. If I was told if would be in Chinese then I would study the language then do the program no problem. The teachers have confirmed what the administration is saying but they have refused to speak English during class. But the part that makes me mad is that these teachers will speak English to me after class is over. My professors know the foreigners in the class do not speak Chinese and we have asked to do self study and not come to class but they have refused. They would rather I sit for hours and not understand instead of the foreigners gathering and teaching ourselves during the class time. I call bullshit that wires have been crossed, I call bullshit on the whole system.

 

Although I am looking for a new school, I have heard that when you switch schools you will have to start from scratch; this has not been confirmed as of yet. If it is not true then I will switch but if it is true then I am screwed until I am accepted into another program abroad. And even if I am accepted will my current school release my credits/transcripts in a timely manner. I know how spiteful and petty some of these schools and businesses can be. So many variables and I want to alert my consulate/embassy to the bullshit that is going on so no one else will be sucked into this particular program at this school. 

[ChTTay]

Well, if you had given this level of detail in your first post it wouldn't have 'seemed like' crossed wires.

 

I am sorry about your situation.

 

How long have you been working under these conditions? If you have credits/transcripts from this program, have you been able to 'get by' so far? Would it be worth making it to a break in the semester/term then leaving at that point? I'm not sure if that would make things any 'neater'.

 

Anyway, I can't offer much help. Good luck. Thanks for posting about this.

[陳德聰]

Sometimes I think to myself "I really want to be back in China right now". Posts like yours remind me why I don't actually want that at all. I hope you can find a satisfactory solution.

[Simon_CH]

I am in contact with the Head of International Relations of a Swiss University who oversees exchange agreements with Chinese Universities and have done my exchange year in China as well. And from all I know and hear this is extremely common, as I've been in the exact same situation at SunYatSen Uni (Zhongshan Daxue) in Guangzhou. Chinese Universities (even supposed top 10 Unis) advertise English courses to get exchange students, and then the Chinese professor and the Chinese students who signed up decide that it's too much of a hassle and simply switch to Chinese. Let me tell you that you have no chance of changing this, I hope you can get the credits by signing up to another course.

 

Good luck with this, let us know how it turned out.

[roddy]

I'm not sure how much use it'll be, but - I notice you're a CSC student. Contact everyone involved in that process: your university if they recommended you, whoever you submitted the application to, CSC in Beijing. Effectively the CSC's money is being wasted. If there are other students in the same position, make this a joint effort. See if that helps. Maybe also a complaint to the city's educational authorities.

 

A consulate might offer advice or make some phone calls - it very much depends on the consulate, I think. 

 

Very disappointing situation to be in, hope you get some kind of solution. 

[studychinese]

That is awful. I have no advice. You have my sympathy.

[imron]

If I was told if would be in Chinese then I would study the language then do the program no problem

Is it possible to speak to the school to see if you can move to a language program track?  I know some CSC programs have a year of language instruction prior to actual study.

[kagato]

Take good notes, eat sleep breathe Chinese, and you'll get by, and learn a lot more Chinese in the process than you would have otherwise.

 

At least, that's what worked out for me in Germany. Granted, that was German, and this is Chinese.

[Simon_CH]

Oh another thing I hadn't thought of when I first replied here: consider signing up to higher level courses in English, as an undergrad exchange student in China I took MBA and Master courses as the undergrad courses were so laughably simple and also because weren't enough English speaking courses available otherwise. They have a lot of flexibility on how to award foreign exchange students the needed credits if your home university agrees.