A few doubts and questions regarding studying in China

[Kambili]

So I'm planning to apply for a Chinese language course at some university starting autumn 2015, and of course once I dug deeper into the topic, a thousand of questions came up. I would be eternally grateful if someone more in the know could help me clarify at least some of the points...

 

1. Are there any Chinese language programmes covered by the Chinese Government Scholarship which last more than a year? I was hoping to spend 2 years studying Mandarin, but on the website http://www.csc.edu.cn/laihua the longest course I could find is one year. For some reason, I seem to recall the maximum period a student can be given CGS for a non-degree Chinese language course is two years, could someone confirm if that's the case...? And if so, if I can't find a course that would be two years long, can I just re-apply for said scholarship the following year, along with with applying for another one year course at my university?

 

2. This is how I understood the whole beaurocracy of the application process ----> Only the Chinese embassy in your home country is authorised to apply for the scholarship on your behalf (which I understand is called "a dispatching authority"). If I currently study in another country, I have to get in touch with my Chinese embassy in my home country and ask them about the whole application process, and they should 'recommend me'  - it means sending me a recommendation letter or something...? What do I have to do to get recommended, is everyone guaranteed that? And then I contact my dreamt university (universities? All the 3 that I intend to put on the form or just my 1st choice? ) for Admission letter. So basically I apply for the university at this point, right..? Is this Admission letter sent to me by post? And then I enclose it to the proper scholarship application, which I print off the online system. Then I send it to the dispatching authority, which again is the Chinese embassy in my home country.

 

3. Would the Confucius Institute at my university be a 'dispatching authority" I could do that through, bearing in mind I'm not a citizen of this country? I assume not, but just to confirm

 

4. I assume I don't have to take the HSK exam beforehand, if Im not applying for a degree course. 

 

 

5. They want 'the highest diploma" attached to your application, however before the end of April deadline I'll only be able to supply my final high school certificate (is that even worth doing?) because I'll only be getting my bachelor's certificate sometime in June I assume....will that not be a problem?

 

6. Can I also apply for some municipal government scholarships in case I don't get the main government one, or is it prohibited (or rather, will they be able to find out? )

 

 

7.And how about the Chinese Government scholarship, there seem to be a few types also - there is the bilateral one, the EU programme one, Great Wall programme. Do I choose and apply for only one of them...？

 

 

8. Are there any universities that would place you in a single room dorm? cos double seems to be the standard. Not that Im complaining if it's free of course...

 

 

 

I'm sorry if some of my questions seem silly and obvious, only started researching that recently...

 

thanks for any input

 

 

 

 

[hedwards]

You'd be surprised how much Chinese you can pick up in a year if you're really focused on it. I was working on mine part time as I moved regularly through the country and got most of the Chinese that I really needed for daily living finished. I have a lot to work on still, but I've got enough of the basics down that it's mostly a matter of willpower to finish.

 

A lot of this depends upon your intention. If a year isn't enough, you can always get yourself a teaching certificate and spend your off hours practicing Chinese outside of the school. Unless it's changed you only need a 4 year degree + a TESL, CELTA or similar plus a couple years of work experience.

[ChTTay]

For teaching, the current regulations, at least in Beijing, require the two years experience to be in teaching.

[hedwards]

ChTTay, they changed that? Not that it's that unreasonable, but it wasn't that long ago that it wasn't the case. Although, I suppose I may have benefited from the fact that I wasn't interested in teaching in the major cities.

[ChTTay]

According to the recruiter for my school, yes, that's the requirement now.

Of course, these rules are seemingly easily bent, especially away from Beijing and major East coast cities. In Beijing though, they are pretty strict.

[Chris Two Times]

Kambili,

 

Welcome to chinese-forums.com!

 

Like you, I also plan to apply for a Chinese Government Scholarship to pay for enrollment in a Chinese language programme commencing in September 2015. I was considering going the two-year route, but I have decided to just apply for one-year programmes.

 

To address your point #1, take a look at the following website: http://www.csc.edu.cn/laihua/universityen.aspx

 

That website lists Chinese universities that are entitled to accept scholarship grantees and it also details the specific programmes that a grantee can use the scholarship for.

 

That website does involve an amount of just clicking and exploring. Most of the non-degree Chinese language programmes for scholarship grantees are for one year, but play around with that website and see which universities have two-year programmes.

 

After clicking on a university name, click on "all programs" and then click on "Non-degree" to check which universities allow you to use the scholarship for Chinese language programmes. Also check "duration". Off the top of my head, for "duration", Fujian Normal University in Fuzhou, Fujian province mentions "1-2 years"; Renmin University in Beijing states "0.5-2 years"; Dalian University of Foreign Languages (DUFL) in Liaoning province states "1-3 years"; and Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and Ocean University in Qingdao, Shandong province specify "no limit"--whatever that really means. Note that the DUFL and BFSU programmes note a March start date.

 

As you find university programmes on that website that seem to have two-year Chinese language programmes for scholarship grantees, it may be best to then directly contact those universities to confirm whether or not they really do offer two-year programmes for scholarship awardees.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck in the scholarship application process!

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times