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Beginner's guide to Renmin University (人大)


Brian US

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Is this post accepting responses?

The details on "classes" are a bit sparse. This is the most important aspect of a university, right? I hope more details can be provided! Long anecdotes, stories, details, numbers, etc., would probably be very helpful to students looking at different schools. This would probably require the comments of more than one person.

Hope to hear more!

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Always welcome to constructive criticism, so I'll see what I can add.

I didn't really want to come out and say it, but I wouldn't suggest going to Renmin University to study language. Where the school excels, is in its major studies. This is where I have little to zero experience with, so I'm hoping other students will come along.

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  • 2 months later...
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I spent the academic year '09/'10 studying at the school of business at RenDa.

I was also take language classes if I wanted, the class sizes were not a problem in my case (we had like 5-7 students for my classes).

best on-campus accomodation is 国际文化交流中心, besides housing the international office the first three floors are a hotel and the rest of the floors are a dormitory with single rooms with private bathrooms, internet and 24h hot water. rates vary depending on the lenght of the time spent there, around 80-100 RMB / night.

There is a Bank of China office close to the east gate too, 1st floor of a tall office building on your left when walking towards Zhongguancun. I prefer this location to the one on the west gate because I found that the several bank tellers spoke quite good english and I was not confident enough in my chinese to handle complicated stuff like money transfers etc.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi to everyone!

As you can see is my first message in this forum so I am not sure how this it works. I am from Madrid, Spain and I am studying here in Europe but next fall I will finish my degree of Business in Renmin University. I read a lot of messages around the Internet and one of my worries is the accommodation. I will be in one of the International Buildings and I sent a message to the International Office asking if I could have a private bath ( the price was cheap if you compare it with the prices in europe and the currency change ). They said that they can't guarantee me an exactly room with private bath but she said that all the requests they received this year 2010/2011 were deeply satisfied. Does any one tried to live off-campus? I surfed some webs but most of them are really expensive and they don't have to many apartments near the Renmin University.

Please I will really glad if you could help me!

James

PD: Brian thanks for the post of beginners in Renmin! I found it really helpful!

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Most foreigners studying at Renda who live off campus live in Wudaokou. The rents are really high for decent places close to Renda, and finding roommates is more difficult.

The distance between Wudaokou and RenDa is not long, it's only like 15-20 kuai or 10-20 minutes with Taxi. and you can also opt for busses or the subway too.

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I forget the Chinese name, but the building with the international student's office also has apartment style rooms. They have their own bathroom, but don't have a kitchen. The rooms are around the price of an off campus apartment, so it depends if you want the convenience of living on campus or not. They are also a little bit smaller than an apartment.

Don't bother with online ads as most are fake or misleading. Best bet is to come a week or two prior to registration and go around on foot. There is a hotel on campus that you can stay for a few days, but keep in mind that the apartments you are shown normally are available same day. Note that other students will also be looking for apartments during this time.

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  • 5 months later...

That's really unfortunate that the language courses aren't so great...This is the BEST fit for me (B.A. in Political Science) and I want to pursue the Contemporary Chinese Studies Master's Program.

I'm in a bit of a weird position because I want (need) to do some language study, but I don't know if spending 1-2 (I'm talking about CSC by the way) will be worth it at RenDa if I could just go somewhere else...but then, I'll have the whole concern of trying to get back to RenDa if I did go somewhere else...Are they really so bad or are you speaking more in reference to Beijing Language University?

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I see. I just remember you ( I think it was ) discussing the differences between BNU and BCLU and now RenDa...it's a little confusing. But I guess since I want to do a master's program, this is the best choice for me, no? Especially considering I'm a Political Science major.

Is their reputation deserved? (From what you've observed).

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I've never been to BNU. I also don't know much about Renmin's graduate programs. I heard Renmin is known for their political and law programs, but you will probably only find that information on Chinese websites. During my orientation, they claimed to have the best accounting program in China, but that is the first I've heard of it.

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Oh, sorry! I don't know who I confused you with...Anyways, yeah, the website pretty much affirmed how awesome their law and social sciences are (research & faculty) but you know, everything always sounds great on a webpage. :lol:

Also, on a side note, I tried finding any kind of publications (like journals) but couldn't and then it occurred to me that maybe it's either 1) only available through a portal only available to students or 2) it's not in print form. If you know NOTHING about their publications, don't worry about it. I just thought I'd ask. I sent the department an email, but I haven't heard back yet.

How is the university bureaucratically? I know it's almost always impossible to just go to any one specific office to sort something out (I learned that much during my time at Fudan), but any description at all is okay.

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As far as the bureaucracy, I would say it's like any other school or business in China, lots of paperwork and no one is in their office. There is a man in the foreign student's office named Du laoshi that has his stuff down. Basically if he can't help you then it is a lost cause. I've raved about him before as he is also the only one that will work during his lunch break, which I've NEVER heard of this before.

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Sorry for the late response, but you normally handle accommodations on arrival. A few changes this year to the dorm will determine where scholarship students and non scholarship students may stay. Basically, less options for non-scholarship students as building 1 and 2 are pretty full.

With the CSC scholarship you will probably be placed in building 1 and 2. I'm currently working on the move into building 1 from off campus as 2nd year master's students get their own room.

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  • 10 months later...

Just a heads up to anyone considering living in the dorms, be prepared to live with families. The university has for at least international student's dorm 1, allowed families of students to live with them. They are predominately from southeast Asia and I've seen husbands/wives and children staying here, whom definitely aren't students. There is even a newborn baby living next door to my dorm room. I have complained about the noise before, but the office seems to turn a blind eye. It is ironic, since the dorm is strict about ID'ing visitors and kicking people out at night.

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