Tsinghua

[sargx]

I'm curious what the difference is between entering Tsinghua individually vs. entering Tsinghua through the IUP program.

Are they the same program and IUP acts like a middleman?

It costs 2300$/year for Tsinghua independently.

$13K/year for the IUP program.

Does anyone have any idea on the differences?

I know you can't enter Tsinghua for less than a year independently.

[maxham]

I was at Tsinghua for a semester a few years ago, back then you could definitely enter for less than a year independently and I haven't heard that it's changed.

As I understand it, the IUP program is a more intensive program - more hours, smaller classes. But for that extortionate amount you'd be better off enrolling in the normal program and using a fraction of your leftover money to employ tutors for some one-on-one practice....and still have several thousand dollars left over. Or go to a school like Diqiucun and simply take more classes. I'm sure a huge chunk of the cost of the IUP stays in the US and goes to the people organising the program. I guess it comes down to whether you want to line their pockets or more directly channel that money into your chinese learning.

[adrianlondon]

I checked out Qinghua last week when I was in Beijing. It's a nice campus.

According to their website, you can only study for a complete academic year unless you enroll in a Summer programme which, I think, doesn't allow indvidual applications. You can't just study for one semester.

[Dan Bang]

I know that the web page says "one year or more", but it is possible to study at Qinghua for a semester... The most reliable source of information is always to contact the university directly via phone or in person - for me it seems like the effort to create English language based webpages is always somewhat half-hearted, so a lot of useful information disappears in incorrect translations.. I really can't figure out why the universities can't see that they loose students and money on this..

By the way, i read that somebody said that it isn't possible to study at Beiwai for a semester, but also at Beiwai it's possible to study for only a semester... I'll finish my semester program there in January, and I have arranged everything myself - and the people working in the office should be able to communicate via English...

Beida is this far the only university where it's too late to apply for next semester (if you want to do a semester program)... Beishida is the 30th of this month (semester begins the 14th of February), Beiyu the 30th of December (semester begins the 23th of February), Qinghua the 14th of December (semester begins the 21th of February) - the only one I'm not sure about is Beiwai, but according to the brochure it should be the 10th of january (semester begins 1st of March)...

[adrianlondon]

Thanks for that - they should, as you say, update the website if it is actually possible to study for just one semester.

As I was cycling around their campus, looking lost but friendly, someone started chatting with me. We became friends, and ended up having coffee and dinner together a couple of times. Anyway, he works for Tsinghua university and confirmed what I had read - that you could only study for an entire year. Of course, he confirmed this just by ploughing through the chinese version of the website rather than actually ringing up the relevant department, but it just goes to show - if a company has a web presence, then they had better keep it up to date!

Better not to have information on the web at all (or just give contact details) if you're not going to update it.

Now, each foreigner this guy meets will be told that it's not possible to study just for one semester. Only because of you, and the luck of me reading this thread, will he get told what actually happens at the University he works for.

Nothing against Chinese universities here, the ones in the UK are just as large and slow and full of bureaucracy.

[lylestyle]

I am currently going to IUP, and I can tell you that IUP is, for all intensive purposes, not connected to Tsinghua. IUP uses its own teacher, materials, and method. They mainly use Tsinghua only for their name and facilities, but it is its own seperate program. I think its safe to say IUP offers the best intensive Chinese learning experience out there, and thats something you couldn't get if you enrolled in Tsinghua directly, but its true that they charge alot for tuition. My two cents is if you go the Tsinghua directly, use the money you save to hire a personal tutor, it makes a big difference. Good luck!

[zoticogrillo]

Anyone who thinks IUP is not a good choice has no idea what they are talking about.

I am now also a student at IUP and have been a student at Tsinghua in their normal program. I now have many friends in the Tsinghua administered program. The Tsinghua program has improved a great deal. However, the fact that IUP is not run by Tsinghua is good. The fact that IUP is still associated with the Tsinghua language program in the minds of some people here in Beijing is really bad for IUP because of Tsinghua's poor reputation for language training. There are many private schools such as Fluency Beijing and the Taipei Language Institute which are much better alternatives to IUP than Tsinghua. Don't waste your time with Tsinghua. The disorganized madness there will only frustrate you.

IUP is the first language program in China for foreigners (since WWII) and has the very best reputation among all other programs. It is the "harvard" of all Chinese programs, and the educational experience is unparalleled. If you are serious about bringing your Chinese level to fluency, then IUP is a step that you would be crazy to skip along the way.

Why is IUP so great? IUP has its name because it is the resource which the universities in the States use when they have nothing more advanced to offer their own students. It is great because you have classes which, at the very most, have no more than three students per teacher, and at least one of those classes is one on one. The program is very intense, and they expect you to do about five hours of homework a night (you could do much more if you are a perfectionist). The teachers are really wonderful, and the very high pay of their positions, thanks to the high tuition charged by the program, gives the program access to the most highly qualified teachers in the country. The program has a wonderful evaluation system which allows it to both receive and give detailed feedback for the students. This also allows it to change its didactic approach according to the needs of the students. Finally, the program has more experience teaching Chinese than any other program, and they use their own teaching materials (books and recordings) which are updated and improved on a continuous basis.

The reason, according to the IUP's director, why IUP is administered by UC Berkeley and kept seperate from Tsinghua's direct administration is that the program needs to retain its ability to hire and fire teachers at will. According to the director, the ability of the program to immediately dismiss teachers who are underperforming has been a huge asset to improving the teaching quality.

And again, one big the reason why the tuition is so high is to ensure that IUP can attract the very best teaching and administrative talent.

Anyone who says anything different is way out in left field.