Introduction
My upcoming trek to China has been born out of a desire to learn the language and begin a career out East. I lived in China for ~7 months in 2012, teaching at a high school in Shijiazhuang. When the term ended in mid-June, I spent the next month and a half travelling around southern China with my S.O. We both had a great time exploring areas from Shenzhen to Kunming. And I am so glad to have spent a few weeks in Kunming on that Visit.
Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, is located in the Western Mountains and has an elevation similar to Denver, Colorado. It is an average sized (Chinese) city of around six million people. Kunming is often touted as the “Spring City” where there is a spring-like climate year round. There’s around two months of “chilly” winter weather where the temperature may sit around freezing, but it doesn’t have the temperature extremes of many Chinese(and American) cities. Coming from North Dakota, I am very excited for mild winters.
To cut to the point, I chose the Chinese language program at Kunming University of Science and Technology . The hows and whys of that decision will follow below.
Schools
I spent several months looking at different programs around the country. My primary concerns were simply climate and cost.
From the research I’ve done online, the general consensus seems to be that the most universities in China are simply cookie cut from a mold, no one being much different than the rest. There are of course exceptions; Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Fudan University are often cited as being great schools. For the average city or provincial school, they don’t especially stand out in anyway and generally have a pretty low bar set.
I wanted to live in a cool(not cold), dry area with wide range of ecological and geographical environments. Yunnan fit the bill so I limited my search to that province. The best website I’ve found for comparing schools in China is CUCAS.
CUCAS (China’s University and College Admission System) is the only authorized service that provides most complete information of China’s Universities as well as one-stop online application service for international students who want to study in China. Launched in 2008, CUCAS has rapidly become the No. 1 service in the industry due to its widely cooperation with universities in China and top class service for international students such as most latest and accurate information of different courses and colleges. By far CUCAS has established solid partnerships with more than 200 top universities in China and offers more than 30,000 courses information to students around the world. Every year, thousands of international students choose CUCAS as their first step to study in China.
Using KMUST as an example:
The Homepage gives reviews(KMUST has none at this time) from other students, a handful of selling points, and a listing of the more popular degree and non-degree programs. As you can see, most classes are starting up the 1st of September, but there are a wide variety of non-degree Chinese Language programs starting both in the Spring and Fall semesters.
Clicking on any of the links will take you to the program page where language, duration, tuition, as well as the HSK and Academic requirements from the program.
The Course page brings up a list that defaults to the Chinese Language programs. A brief summary including starting date, duration, deadline, and tuition are listed.
I will be in the 10 weekly hour, 1 year program. My attraction to the program was the price. 7,200 RMB comes out to an affordable $1,120.
The Degree option on the left brings up a list of categories with degrees offered. Selecting one of these categories brings you to a full listing of programs, including the tuition and language the course is taught in.
CUCAS should offer you all of the preliminary information you need in order to select a language school in China. While you need to do plenty of research elsewhere, I found the information on CUCAS to be much more up-to-date than the official university websites. What CUCAS does not offer a list of private language schools, of which there are many throughout China. Google is your friend if you are looking for other options.
Applying
I attempted to apply directly with KMUST, but the process was slow. School had already let out for the summer and the staff did not respond quickly. Sometimes they would get back to me the next day(with the 13 hour time difference) and sometimes it would take 4, 5 days. Or just not at all. I had planned on going through the school directly in order to save a few dollars, but I ended up using CUCAS for this as well. They made the process much, much more convenient. They always answered the live chat on their site and their email very quickly. I had a few silly questions for them(I already have a tourist visa, do I really need to send it back to the consulate for a student visa now? No, you can do that when you get in country) and they were quick to reassure me, which I appreciated. If anything, the staff at CUCAS seem competent and familiar with whatever the ever-changing rule du jour is.
I had applied for my tourist visa earlier this spring around February. That process is pretty straightforward. I gathered the required materials: Passport, photocopy of passport, Visa Application Form, Photo, and an itinerary including arriving and departing planes tickets, as well as a hotel reservation. I do not plan on leaving China for the immediate future, so I booked a one-way ticket from Kunming to Bangkok, printed a copy of that itinerary, and then cancelled the booking. For the hotel reservation, I used HostelWorld.com to reserve a bunk for the first few nights I’ll be in the city. I collected the documents and FedExed them to CVSC. They took care of everything and sent back my passport with a shiny new 10-year tourist visa.
So, that’s how I selected my language program and school in China. I’ve been told by a few people that I should attend a tier-1(Shanghai, Beijing) school to get better training/experience, but hopefully moving to the south-west won’t be a mistake.
