Studying International Relations in China

[norwegianstudent]

Hi, I want to take a semester or several in China to be a part of my Bachelor degree in International Relations. I do not speak any Chinese, so it would have to be in English. International recognition of the university isn't very important, as I will get my degree at my Norwegian university - however I do want a good university obviously, to get more insight on the world from a Chinese perspective - which is my one of my two main academic goals by studying in China (the other is learning about China itself). 

Peking University claims to have an International Relations program, and several/enough (interesting) subjects taught in English and seems to be recognized globally. Would this be a good idea? I would love to live in a smaller historic Chinese city, but I don't want to sacrifice my academic development. I am also open to spending a summer in China to learn as much of the language as possible. 

I hope this is the correct subforum to ask. 

[ZhangKaiRong]

What is your aim with learning International Relations in China? Do you want to work in a field related to China? Because if so, you cannot skip learning the language - there is nothing worse than an international relations expert on a certain country/area who is not able to speak the language of his/her area of expertise. Also, if you want to get insights on the world from a Chinese perspective, you need that language proficiency, as many resources are not available in English.

 

In terms of prestige, you cannot find a more famous IR program in China than the one in BeiDa (Peking University). However, you may have quite high expectation regarding the quality of the university courses which may not be true. In China, education is generally professor driven, there are less discussions and more lectures, which you can find odd compared to a European university. English-language courses are slowly starting to be like the European / Anglo Saxon style courses, but they are just in the beginning of the road, and there is plenty room for improvement.

[norwegianstudent]

My aim is some insight, insight I know will be limited. I am not planning to work in a field related to China. So you would reccomend the IR program at Peking University? It doesn't require university level understanding of Mandarin?

[ZhangKaiRong]

Given that they have a full English-taught programme that definitely doesn't need any Mandarin knowledge at all (though the university encourages students to take Mandarin classes as well), I would go for it if you're really into IR. I have colleagues and clients who graduated from the Chinese-taught IR program there and they are quite knowledgable about the current global political and economic issues, so the program itself should be quite okay.