Does anyone know anything about BRCIC (Belt & Road Collaborative Innovation College)?

[DarkestLight]

I'll be going there this November for a 1 year foundation course. All I know is that it's a product of the "Belt & Road Initiative" by the Chinese Government. I need to know about experience, studies, accommodation and where did it take you.

Edit: I did my research. And gathered whatever I could from the internet; who controls it, authorization, founders, about the founders, costs of living, tuition, products that i can and cannot buy there, affiliations, reviews from people who did internships or short programs there; but I couldn't find anything about it from the perspective of someone in Qingdao. Someone living there would know more.

Edited October 16, 2018 at 07:48 AM by DarkestLight
I wasn't clearly enough.

[aone]

1.Based on the information I collected,  the center is controlled by a privately owned company.

2.I guess - It might have gotten policy support or fund from local gov, just my guess.

3.It provides study intermediary services.

4.It is newly founded in May, 2018, so can't tell you more.

[mungouk]

1 hour ago, DarkestLight said:

All I know is that it's a product of the "Belt & Road Initiative"

 

And yet you've already committed to going to China so you can study there for a whole year?

 

 

[DarkestLight]

1 hour ago, mungouk said:

 

And yet you've already committed to going to China so you can study there for a whole year?

I did my research. And gathered whatever I could from the internet; who controls it, authorization, founders, about the founders, costs of living, tuition, products that i can and cannot buy there, affiliations, reviews from people who did internships or short programs there; but I couldn't find anything about it from the perspective of someone in Qingdao. Someone living there would know more. That's why I created this thread. I've already enough information to tell whether I should study there or not. 

Sorry. I should've been more clear.

(I've edited the thread)

[mungouk]

@DarkestLight OK, good luck!

 

[DarkestLight]

4 hours ago, mungouk said:

@DarkestLight OK, good luck

Thank you. ^_^

[DarkestLight]

@aone That was very helpful. Thank you.

[Amirunner]

So how is it? I was planning to go there for a 2 month summer summer program? I

[HirAngel]

Honestly, I can't say much. You'll understand why if you go there. I have a friend studying Chinese there and he told me a few things. The school is new. It started last year in fall. You can get what you want from them depending on what you'll study there. The science teacher is one person who teaches Chen, bio and maths. The 4th subject they have is Chinese. There is no proper dormitory building because BRCIC is a cooperate building . it isn't what can fit into the definition of "campus". All the students living in the "dorms" are simply living in apartments rented or owned by brcic. But at the end of the day all the students (i think there's 25 or less) have different opinions. Like i said, it depends on what you study there. The chinese language students get what they want. The teachers are great though. Just some problems with the science teacher. She's a chinese high school teacher. Not really someone who's qualified to prepare students for university. Try to contact brcic. They may just tell you the truth. Who knows? Maybe my friend gave me wrong info. There's no way of knowing the truth.

I'm sorry if i confuse you but I'm only sharing what i know and my opinion.

[edelweis]

8 hours ago, HirAngel said:

She's a chinese high school teacher. Not really someone who's qualified to prepare students for university.

I find this perplexing. Doesn't high school prepare students for university?

 

I'm interested in feedback from @DarkestLight too.

Several months into the program, are you happy with the classes?

What classes are you taking?

How many hours a week?

What textbooks are you using?

What kind of teachers do you have?

Do you already know whether you will get into the MBBS?

 

[DarkestLight]

On 4/3/2019 at 3:13 AM, edelweis said:

I'm interested in feedback from @DarkestLight too.

Several months into the program, are you happy with the classes?

What classes are you taking?

How many hours a week?

What textbooks are you using?

What kind of teachers do you have?

Do you already know whether you will get into the MBBS?

To answer your questions:

I was not. At all.

Chemistry, biology and maths and Chinese

32 hours

No textbooks even though we all paid 600¥ all we got was one chinese book which cost less than 100¥

For the rest i will post proper details.

But for now I advise everyone to be careful. Do not study at this college. Your advisor will tell you that if you study there you will get accepted into your university easily or any other excuses. Dont trust what they say. If they try to get you to go there take it as a red flag and either use a different agency or apply directly because they will get a commission from sending you to this "school". And so they will use any means possible to get you to go there. You can try to go to another school through them but if they keep insisting on brcic just know that it's better to take a gap year than wasting your money there.

I will try to post a proper post here about my eexperience with details. But for now do not go to BRCIC "College".

Oh and the comment above is correct just not detailed enough.

[edelweis]

@DarkestLight

Thanks a lot for the update and warning. I think it will be very helpful to people. And of course if you can add more details, it will be even better.

 

[thetruth]

Hello everyone. I know this is a bit late but I'm going to post a few details about this college here.

I was a bit busy so I couldn't do it sooner.

Also, I should mention that I won't post my personal experiences anytime because if "they" see this then I don't want them to identify me. I'm in a pretty good place in my life right now and I don't want to ruin it. It's not the best but I'm well aware that if could've been so much worse. (they: the people involved with the school)

Let me start with the JW202. We were about 30 students in my batch which is another lie on the sicas website that there are more than 900 students studying there and not to mention they advertise the school as something magnificent enough to shape our careers. We were the first batch - 2018 autumn intake. Any student reviews you see with the pictures of the students are fake with stock photos. Try right clicking and selecting "search google for image".  They've taken their website down several times so I'm not sure if it's still up. But if it is, go to "Student testimony". If I find the website I will share the link here.

The JW202 forms they sent us were not from that college. Actually, everyone got their visa by using a form and admission letter from other universities (such as Shandong Jiaotong University) that also offered one year programs so that the JW202 we used to apply with was also valid for one year. After we came to the college they applied for our resident permit using the JW202 from the college (the one we came for - to avoid confusion- BRCIC College) which was hand written with a black pen. The teachers would always apply for a permit for 1 year but no matter what the immigration office would always give us a permit of only 3 months. After that we had to pay 400 RMB all over again. There were a lot of rumors about why this was happening but one of the most believable one was that the immigration officers didn't trust that this college was going to last long so they want to issue us a permit longer than the expected amount of time the college would last. We believed this one because of everything we were hearing and experiencing. It made sense.

Our "dormitories" were apartments assigned to us in different residential complexes. You could pay 7500 RMB for a "double room" which would basically be an apartment wit more than one bedroom ad you'd simply have another bed in your room. The "single room" cost 15000 RMB and it' means that you'll be sharing the apartment with the double rooms only that you  have one bed in your room. 

The "College" is mainly on 2 of the floors of a 15 floor building known as the Belt and Road Collaborative Innovation Center. (Remove the "center" and put "college" and Viola! you have a money making business now)

There were times when "important people" would come to review the building and they would put us on the 11th floor conference room (which were our "classrooms") so that they can see us studying. The walls of those rooms were glass so outsiders can look in. During this time the "teacher" would try to converse with us about our cultures so that the people outside can see our interactions and well... basically it would look good. (apparently...?)

The only thing that said "Belt and Road Collaborative Innovation College" in the entire building was a long red banner that was used to cover up the name of the country (because the building had visa offices of quite a few African countries and that's where our "classrooms" were) often times when someone came who they wanted to impress. Once they made some students stay really late after class because the immigration officers were coming to inspect and they wanted the to see that this was a proper school and this was literally the only thing they could show them to prove it that this was a real school.

They never returned our books refund (600 RMB) or the accommodation deposit (1000 RMB) and they never will.

 

So, yeah...

I hope after reading this all of you are careful. If you want to use sicas, go ahead. But don't trust everything they say. ESPECIALLY, if they recommend this college to you because most of our agents left the moment we boarded our planes to China.

[edelweis]

@thetruth

thanks for your feedback about this BRCIC school.