studying in china

Chuks,l think l see one univ that can lecture in english but the univ is in guangzhou. look out:

http://www2.scut.edu.cn/sie/english/publish/news/NewsEvents/2h2u7k72r9uf0k.html

Collins, in my opinion if you're going to study in China it's best to do your course under the language medium of Mandarin.  It's not going to be easy but at the end of the day it can be used to our advantage...

Chuks,l think l see one univ that can lecture in english but the univ is in guangzhou. look out:

http://www2.scut.edu.cn/sie/english/publish/news/NewsEvents/2h2u7k72r9uf0k.html

Collins, in my opinion if you're going to study in China it's best to do your course under the language medium of Mandarin.  It's not going to be easy but at the end of the day it can be used to our advantage...

How can it be used to our advantage? l have heard from a lecturer that you must be going for chinese language classes and must need to pass the HSK 6,before you can graduate from university.

It can be used to our advantage because knowing an additional language well is a skill.  If you graduate from a Chinese university one of the first things your employer would like to know is your Chinese proficiency level.

Imagine replying "I did everything in English."

You'd be competing with the people from the US & UK who have also done their degrees in English...and then it comes down to university ratings, individual grades or whatever.  And in this case the whole world is biased...if the company can afford to employ an expat they would definitely hire those with US or British degrees.  Why would they want to hire someone who graduated in China - and still don't know the language well?

But if you're from a Chinese university and did everything in Mandarin then you're a special case.  Not only can you do your degree-related stuff, you can also do some part-time translating or move to the business field both abroad and in China.

You will have a better chance to get into better schools if you don't limit your options to English programs. South China University of Technology is not bad, but it is not among top engineering schools in China.

l got your point sabrina.but you point is based on someone is going to work in china after he/she grad. Studying in english will help most if you intend to go to other cntry after grad.

l got your point sabrina.but you point is based on someone is going to work in china after he/she grad. Studying in english will help most if you intend to go to other cntry after grad.

Sure, but in that case it would make more sense to go directly to an English-speaking country at the first place, even if it is not the one you dream of working/living eventually. Even if you plan to move to another country after your education in China there are chances that your English education would be questioned as people know that Chinese is the official language in China.

In my point of view it would be a big waste if you had to do your undergraduate studies in China, spending five years or so, for later moving on a career which has absolutely nothing to do with China, and if after those five years you don't really master the language, which no matter your field of study will be your top competitive advantage in job hunting.

l got your point sabrina.but you point is based on someone is going to work in china after he/she grad. Studying in english will help most if you intend to go to other cntry after grad.

Pat's got a point, Collins.

I'll give you an example of my country itself - if you're an African who studied in China and can't speak Chinese - people back home won't believe you really did study in China, they'd think you just bought a certificate in the Chinese streets somewhere.  Honestly!

Ofcourse,there is no way u can not learn how to speak chinese after u have spend like 4 yrs in a university. And you cant graduate if you didnt pass the HSK 6 exam,so if you can pass the HSK 6 means u can atleast communicate with chinese

Collins, at the end of the day it's your decision.  Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck!

Thats cool...thnx

I want to share one of my funny (well, for me at least) experience with you guys. Might just be a wee bit useful, hahah.

Normally, if you asked me to write a random story in Mandarin I'll be able to do it.  Last semester, the teacher came up with a surprise essay exam.  He entered class one morning and said "we will be watching a film, and immediately after the film you will have to use what you have learned in this visual impressions class to analyze the film."

I suddenly felt dizzy, and I thought: "!"£$^&*()@"  I sent one of my classmates an sms, and asked her to confirm that what heard was correct.  She said "yup, we'll have an essay exam (1000 characters) and our grade depends on it 100%."

The film was a 'classic' American film.  The funny: the teacher had rudely disabled Mandarin subtitles so my Chinese classmates started complaining & shouting at the teacher.  But he walked out of class and told us all to try our utmost to understand.  I was glad that my Chinese classmates didn't have things their way that time.  Whenever the teacher would take short breaks and leave the class, a bunch of them would come over to ask me if I understood the movie.  LMAO They're so silly sometimes.  Throughout the movie I was jotting down as much info as possible - pages full to compensate my short-term memory. 

When it was time to write the essay, I had nothing to lose: I went over to the teacher and asked him politely if I could write the essay in English.  He said "try to write it in Mandarin" and I said "ok, I understand".  I went back to my seat and knew that I'd probably fail the exam but hey, at least I tried, right? 5 minutes later the teacher approached me & said "I can't speak English well but I have no problems where reading is concerned...you may write the essay in English."

I said "thank you" and dumped my English-Chinese dictionary in my bag.    I wrote the 1000-word (as opposed to characters) analytical essay within the 2 hours time frame.

It was definitely weak of me to have not tried to do the essay in Mandarin.  But at the end of the day I think I made a wise decision. 

The things we have to do sometimes just to stay afloat.

Maybe u would have earn more mark if u wrote in mandarin

Maybe u would have earn more mark if u wrote in mandarin

Well I aced the paper so I really doubt that.

Hah.......nice one

I have a number of friends who graduated from top Universities in China but moved to Hong Kong before the hand over. Their degrees were not recognised at that time. They could not find a descent job. After the hand over in 1997, their degrees are recognised as any top university from other place. The better part is that they are now teaching Mandarin to business executives in business and language programs in universities in Hong Kong and have a VERY good pay  job. No one could imigine just some 10 years ago speaking beautiful Mandarin will suddenly become an valuable asset. Now even primary school in Hong Kong recruits teachers from Bejing and pay them HK$20000-30000. The value of a language will go up with the country's economic power. For those who learn the language have to make a good forecast before they spend the time and effort.