Tsinghua, BLCU or other?

[liu.engineer]

Hey everybody!

I've seen that the question has already been asked multiple times but it has been a while so I thought I would ask again and get updated answers! I am know preparing to study Chinese full time in China next year. I had made my decision to take BLCU's intensive class but after a little research I've found out that many complains about their dorms and many don't recommend the intensive course because it is better to spend the extra hours out with Chinese people. Many talks about how many international students there are in BLCU and how big their classes are. Tsinghua on the other hand has higher ranking and is considered one of the best universities in the world. What are your recommendations and for you who have studied at the Chinese program at Tsinghua, how would you describe it? You are also more than welcome to recommend other universities that have long-term programs.

 

[cliveface96]

I would say don't bother going to a Chinese uni, or any uni based on ranking. Very few people know Chinese universities outside of China either. 

[ChTTay]

I enjoyed Tsinghua. Also lots and lots of Chinese students there for you to potentially meet. Much bigger than BLCU and lots of students who don’t give a s#*¥ about learning English. Just join s club or something and make friends around that. 

[ZhangKaiRong]

Eh, Tsinghua being one of the best in the world?  Maybe in a parallel universe where the PRC is a leading world power in higher education. They are currently not at this level globally and not even in Asia (HK and Singapore have much better universities, and I'd also put Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese universities higher on the scale.)

 

Do you want to attend language courses only or you are also planning to pursue bachelor/master studies? If you're focusing on learning the language only, then just forget about the overall national/global ranking of the universities - their general academic ranking has zero correlation with the level of their Chinese language courses. The big 3, namely Tsinghua, BLCU and BeiDa already have a great influence over the Chinese language teaching as all universities with Confucius Institutes use their crappy textbooks in their courses - therefore, in terms of the source material, you won't be at a "disadvantage" if you attend other courses. It really doesn't matter where you attend classes - you definitely learn the basics there and can get a high-level guidance from your teachers but I'd say that classroom Chinese is less relevant for your language capabilities once you hit the intermediate level.

 

Some random thoughts for choosing a uni:

 

- If you did not make it for a top university at your home country, but you want to get a feeling of how does it feel like to attend a claimed-to-be prestigious uni that you can put on your CV, then go for Tsinghua or Beida. Chances are high that no one would know about these unis in your home country outside of Chinese or people familiar with China. I always get the CVs of applicants with educational background in Asia from our local HR, asking for advice, so my personal experience is that you won't be treated too well outside China just because you have a "famous" Chinese uni on your CV.

- I would go for a university that offers classes with a maximum of 8 students. I know that it is not realistic at the beginner level (where it would be the most important to have small classes) but pretty OK at the mid-intermediate levels if you go to a less popular university. I attended a small city's uni, and 中一 had 12 students, 中二 had 8 and 高级 had 6. It was a perfect setting for classroom teaching, even though the material was not too entertaining. I would also aim for a uni that offers Comprehensive Chinese, Reading, Listening, Speaking and Grammar classes seperately. Many programs lack a Grammar course, however Grammar classes were the most useful for me, clarifying many vague grammar points.

 

- It depends on your own self-discipline, but it's advantegous to go to a city/university with the least English-speaking and native-language speaking students. Less distraction on your way to immersion. Of course, you can avoid these distractions but it's harder. Also, top universities have more Chinese students who would like to polish their English skills on foreigners - if your Chinese is not high-level enough, they will automatically speak to you in English, and it will be hard to convert the discussions with them to Chinese. I would avoid Chinese "top" unis due to this, but there can be some positive examples (like ChTTay's). I couldn't speak in Chinese with any of the Tsinghua students participating in my home uni's CEMS exchange program even though they were perfectly aware that my Chinese is just as good as their English. But maybe I had tough luck with them.

 

- What is the reason that makes you to stick to Beijing? There are a lot more good places to learn Chinese in the Middle Kingdom. I would consider Xian, Qingdao, Nanjing and Hangzhou at least, if you want to study in city with good Chinese/international vibes.

[liu.engineer]

11 hours ago, ChTTay said:

I enjoyed Tsinghua

How long did you study att Tsinghua? can you tell me a bit about your experience there? like how were the classes and the teachers?

 

5 hours ago, ZhangKaiRong said:

Do you want to attend language courses only or you are also planning to pursue bachelor/master studies

Just Chinese courses!

 

5 hours ago, ZhangKaiRong said:

I attended a small city's uni,

What was your uni? if you recommend it, I will absolutely consider it. To be honest I've just chosen BLCU and Tsinghua because I have little to no information about other universities and I am absolutely willing to attend other unis. It will absolutely be better for me to attend a university with less international students and I don't care alot about the international vibes. But as I said I have no idea about the other unis.

[ChTTay]

You mention the “question has been asked multiple times” already ... did you look at the answer?

 

All my experiences and opinions on Tsinghua are in detail on this forum already. 

[liu.engineer]

2 hours ago, ChTTay said:

You mention the “question has been asked multiple times” already ... did you look at the answer?

 

 

Yeah I have looked at every answer on the forum but they are all so old. I'm looking for some updated answers.