Study China Programme?

[donnagonna]

Has anyone got any experience?

DS has applied for this. It is 3 weeks in China learning basic Mandarin, Chinese Culture and Chinese Business. The UK and Chinese Government pay for the course, excursions and accommodation in Shanghai.

DS would have to pay Visa, Food, Flights (!) and spending money. They estimate this will
come to £1400. BA flights are £900 at the moment

Has anyone got a Dc who has done this? Was it worth it? Is it just a jolly?

[blametheparents]

This sounds really interesting. I have not heard of this study programme.

Have you looked at non-direct flights? When DS went on a school trip to China they flew via Frankfurt (I think) with Lufthansa.
DS's whole trip for 10 days was only £1300 so the flights could not have been as much as £900.

[Stopyourhavering64]

My dd is doing this, this year....looked at flights with Qatar ( from Manchester) which come in at about £840....this was only a cursory glance so far
There is possibility of applying for bursary from their university
www.studychina.org.uk/finance/
She's delighted to be going...her older dsis has been teaching English near Shanghai for last 2 years and loves the whole cultural experience
Has he definitely got Shanghai?....dd only found out she'd got place yesterday and had to rank from 1-3 which placement she wanted

[ShanghaiDiva]

The visa is quite expensive GBP 175 I think.
Flights with China Eastern may be better value - direct to Shanghai. I also think Lufthansa should be cheaper than GBP900.
Am not sure how much Mandarin they will learn in three weeks if they are also learning about Chinese culture and business. Personally I think it's a bit of a jolly, but I live in China and am not sure how much value there is in a three week trip. What is your son's objective?

[NicoAndTheNiners]

Dd has been to uni for a summer school in Beijing two years ago and I think is probably going back again this summer for a few weeks. It wasn't through Study China though. Everything was paid for apart from food and spending money. She went to Tsinghua university and studied art and design.

I'm not sure how old your DS is and whether or not he's already at uni. Dd was at the end of Year 11 when she went and I think it really helped her uni applications stand out.

She loved it. Talks about wanting to go back and live in China. It was a bit of a culture shock I think. The days are really long, they start early and finish late and have a siesta (on campus, in the classrooms) after lunch. Think the food took some getting used to as well! . She said it felt very safe even in the middle of Beijing but people were very interested in her and her friends (dd is very blonde) and they got a bit mobbed at times. People were keen to practice their English with them.

Get your kids to download WeChat before they go and you download it as well. You can use it to keep in touch while they're there, Facebook and other western social media won't work.

[NicoAndTheNiners]

Oh and it's cheap while they're there. I gave dd £10 a day spending money to cover all food and any bits she wanted and she had enough.

[Alaimo]

I participated in the study China programme 10 years ago. Your DC should enquire if their university has any funding to cover some of the costs. Some unis have small pots of money that students can apply for to undertake study or personal development activities outside the normal curriculum. Mine ended up paying for my flights.

As to whether it's worth it: it depends on your DSs intentions. I know some people who were on the programme who have established careers in China since then, but they were already really interested in China and used the programme as a way to develop connections, improve their language skills etc. There were plenty of people who did see it as a jolly and who stopped showing up for some of the morning classes as they were too hungover. I found the language classes useful, but the business & culture ones weren't terribly insightful. plus traveling abroad with a large group of British people means most people barely practice their Mandarin skills as they just spend their free time with other British students.

So, it really depends what your DS is hoping to get out of it?

[BubblesBuddy]

I think there is nothing, ever, that’s wrong with a foreign travel and culture experience. BA fly direct to Shanghai and for a solo young traveller, I would recommend them.

My DDs did a school exchange to South Africa when they were in y9. So 13 years old. They went for a term. That was definitely worth it. Three weeks is a holiday but with a bit of culture thrown in and that’s great!!

[Stopyourhavering64]

Dd has joined a Facebook group for the study China programme...there's approx 160 on the page and she's already started chatting to one girl who's going on same flight as her from Manchester...got a flight for £730 flying with Air France /China Eastern to Shanghai
Unfortunately her university doesn't have any funds to support her , so we'll have to pay for flights/ insurance etc...However she's delighted to be going as she'll have graduated the month before and is spending a few months traveling ( S America and Bali ) before settling down to the treadmill of work...she's got a part time job when she comes home and has also signed up with a casting agency!