What things would you prioritize when choosing a city?

[Guest realmayo]

I hadn't thought of that but it is know definitely a priority when choosing. Do those universitiea usually tell that somewhere around their website?

 

Assuming the system I describe is still in place (it was 3 or 4 years ago), I don't know how to tell which universities are involved and which aren't, but I don't think it was very many, maybe 5? If a university has 1000+ foreign students and doesn't seem like the kind of big-name university in a big-name city which ought to have so many people applying there, then maybe that university is full of these scholarship students cramming their one-year language course before studying elsewhere.

[hoshinoumi]

I wanted to give you an update I hadn't thought of. My friend is in Nanjing this year and she strongly advised me that I research the quality of the residence. She, for example, loves her choice of city and uni but she has to shate bathroom with the whole floor and doesn't have storage options for food.

[Chris Two Times]

Someone I met when in China with very high level Chinese had one of his most successful years at a little university in the south. Didn't hear much Mandarin when out and about but the university was well-organised and he progressed well. 

 

Tianjin42,

 

May I kindly ask which university that is?

 

 

I like this thread as I am going through the exact same process at the moment in considering universities, cities, regions. This changes daily.

 

At the moment I'm considering a place in the Northeast, another one in Shandong, and a third one in the Southeast. This will probably change soon.

 

There are some good insights here that have been very helpful. Many thanks.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[Tianjin42]

Chris Two Times,

 

I've racked my brains but just can't remember precisely the university. It was someone I interviewed at a job fair I was working at. His Chinese was excellent and when we spoke about places to learn when this topic came up. I'm afraid that I don't recall his name or the precise university other than that it was in Sichuan. It was a couple of years ago and the year in which he was there will have been a couple of years before that.

Sorry.

 

I had a good time at Tianjin University if you are looking. Pretty standard but if you put the work in, you improve. 

[Chris Two Times]

Tianjin42,

 

Many thanks. For me the name of the province will suffice...ah, Sichuan! Interestingly enough, I lived in Sichuan. There are a few places in Chengdu that I could imagine this could be.

 

I have visited Tianjin twice and I enjoyed it. I haven't visited Tianjin University but I did stroll through Nankai's main campus. I went and paid my respects to Zhou Enlai.

 

Tianjin University! Thanks for the tip. I will give it a look and consider it. Studying in Tianjin sounds all right actually.

 

Many thanks again!

Chris Two Times

[Chris Two Times]

Assuming the system I describe is still in place (it was 3 or 4 years ago), I don't know how to tell which universities are involved and which aren't, but I don't think it was very many, maybe 5? If a university has 1000+ foreign students and doesn't seem like the kind of big-name university in a big-name city which ought to have so many people applying there, then maybe that university is full of these scholarship students cramming their one-year language course before studying elsewhere.

 

This system does appear to still be in place for those pursuing undergraduate degrees at mainland universities on scholarship. They may have to go to another university for one or two years first to do preparatory coursework before heading onward to their ultimate host institution to begin their coursework on their degrees.

 

From http://www.csc.edu.c...?cid=97&id=2070

 

Part II SUPPORTING CATEGORIES, DURATION, INSTRUCTION LANGUAGE, INSTITUTIONS AND MAJORS

 

1. Undergraduate scholarship recipients must register for Chinese-taught credit courses. They are required to take one-year preparatory courses in one of the 10 universities listed below and to pass the required test before moving on to their major studies.

Undergraduate scholarship recipients can apply for preparatory course exemption if they completed their secondary education in Chinese or have a valid HSK certificate that meets the requirements of the host university. Official documents from secondary schools or a photocopy of a valid HSK certificate must be submitted for a preparatory course exemption application. Please NOTE that HSK results are valid for only 2 years.

Entrusted by MOE, the following 10 universities offer preparatory courses to undergraduate scholarship recipients. They are Tianjin University, Nanjing Normal University, Shandong University, Central China Normal University, Tongji University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Northeast Normal University, Beijing International Studies University, Capital Normal University, and the University of International Business and Economics.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

Edited January 23, 2016 at 03:45 PM by Chris Two Times

[Chris Two Times]

This is a useful thread; I am also going through such a search right now for next year.

 

What things would I prioritize when choosing a city for a place of study for one or more years?

 

Firstly, I am finding that I won't mind a campus outside of the city, provided that the campus is near the sea or a large park or at the foot of a mountain. From Monday to Friday, I would prefer to stick around the campus and just engage in uni life and study and do some outdoor activities. The weekend will be for going into the city where I can do a lot of walking and looking around and taking pictures and just chatting with lots of random local folks.

 

As for universities, I wouldn’t want to go to one of the universities with the highest number of foreigners, but at the same time, I think a university with “enough” foreigners would be all right, as my hope would be that that university would have enough services in place (e.g., can I take the HSK at that university?) and enough experience in dealing with foreigners to make setting things up a relatively smooth process. I would also prefer to go to an institution that has a wide variety of foreigners from many places, i.e., from Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, instead of just having a huge cohort of Koreans and North Americans.

 

I have been living in Beijing for the past year and a half and it's been grand...as a professional on a Western salary. I don’t think I want to be in a first-tier city when I bump down to student status on a budget, so I am more interested in living and studying in a second or third-tier city where there will be less distractions to spend my money on (hopefully). I am older so nightlife and Western diversions are no longer so important to me.

 

I thought that I would want to be in a first-tier city as a student having time to take advantage of the extras that such a city could provide (top-notch museums! high-calibre concerts! NBA teams coming to town!), but I am now discovering that I won’t necessarily desire such things—just getting my learn on and walking around and talking to people will be enough for me. A modest second-tier city shall suffice for my study experience.

 

I don’t mind places that have a lot of expats as long as I can easily avoid them. Here in Beijing, I have set up my life so I don't really come into contact with other expats. I’m not really interested in the Beijing universities that are near Wudaokou.

 

Living in the South and outside of “the Mandarin belt” is not my first choice, but I am still open to such a move. The idea of locals generally being friendly and open to me trying out Chinese with them is the most important thing to me.

 

I plan to live in the dorms so a common kitchen down the hall will be a dealmaker for me—I prefer to cook for myself in order to save my money and waistline and health.

 

When I moved to Beijing, I was very cavalier about the pollution, but that has since become a dealbreaker for me for long-term residence here. I do realize that unless it’s the likes of Kunming, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Hainan, or Lhasa, the pollution will be bad, but still, I now want pollution levels less than Hebei province and Beijing.

 

The cold/hot weather aspect isn’t so important to me, but I would prefer to not live in a place where it rains a lot. I can stand being too hot and too cold, but I absolutely hate getting drenched when I am just walking outside for seven minutes to the local supermarket.

 

Apologies for the lengthy list—these are the factors that are important to me when choosing a city and a place to study. Thanks for your patience with it—I just needed to go through this exercise as I pinpoint my three desired universities for my 2016 CSC application.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[happy_hyaena]

I'm also in the process of picking a university (or two) for the time I am planning to spend in China studying Chinese in 2017. I am actually going to be taking a break from pursuing my masters in engineering for this, and because of this, I feel like I will probably end up having to go against the advice given regarding not going by rankings. I do have some foundation in Chinese already as I attended a summer school back in 2014 and have been self studying since then.

 

Being able to drop "oh I studied Chinese for some time at [top ranked Chinese university]" to any future Chinese coworker/client/boss/whomever for the rest of my life feels like it could be advantageous, even if everyone who applied got in to their Chinese student programme and the education wasn't nearly on the same level as for the Chinese students.

 

If we were to speak broadly, how big of a difference could there be between universities? And if you're the type of person who's going to put a lot of effort outside of school (ie do homework diligently, study flashcards and such extra, try to interact as much as possible with the locals, etc) anyway, will you be missing out on a lot?