Hey thanks for keeping it civil Daniel and expanding the discussion.
Universities should be held to a higher standard then store front schools and that is the basis of a lot of the disatisfaction. YNU presented themselves as competent but when the rubber hit the road an ongoing series of obvious incompetencies exposed their short comings. I sincerely hope they have the wherewithall to improve.
My point about the late night phone call? That is what the internet is for.
Inexperienced teachers? I guess they move on when they get better, believe me some of them are shining lights in the darkness that is YNU.
Recent experiences at YNU is leaving a bitter taste.
Was it it good value for the money?
From the outset the program promised but did not deliver. From being awoken at 2 a.m. by a telephone call from the school to our home country,(ever heard of time zones, oh!, they didn't cover that in teacher's collage) a voice reading from a paper everthing that we had spent months repeatedly trying to have comfirmed by email. An online registration form seemingly not updated since 1995. An onsite registration process that takes days and a half a dozen passport pictures to complete. (Where do those pictures go?) Repeated requests from the school for information which they already have on file....in the same office. A visa service that is so poorly run so as to cost double what it should if they had their ducks lined up. An inability to give a correct and thourough calendar of dates in advance so students who have duties and responsibitlies futher then the schools 2 week time line, can make plans both professional and personnal. Teachers, though sincere in thier intentions and well trained in the Chinese method, lacking international experience and longterm experience generally. Alot of in class time versus real teaching going on. Endless quizing for what reason? Promised "extra cultural programming", being offered but poorly run. Unannounced class cancelations, (isn't that what all that contact information was for?).
Who is the customer here? Prehaps this is example of this country has so many people that the buisnesses don't really care because there will always be another sucker coming along.
In the end of course we are all on our own to make the best of things. However it pisses of this westener who values their time as much as their money! Is this what Chinese students must put up with? I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
If you are young and have time and money to kill and you want to take some mandarin courses, Kuming is a great place to do it, but this is not Shanghai or Beijing, and a serious student should look elsewhere.
Recent experiences at YNU is leaving a bitter taste.
Was it it good value for the money?
From the outset the program promised but did not deliver. From being awoken at 2 a.m. by a telephone call from the school to our home country,(ever heard of time zones, oh!, they didn't cover that in teacher's collage) a voice reading from a paper everthing that we had spent months repeatedly trying to have comfirmed by email. An online registration form seemingly not updated since 1995. An onsite registration process that takes days and a half a dozen passport pictures to complete. (Where do those pictures go?) Repeated requests from the school for information which they already have on file....in the same office. A visa service that is so poorly run so as to cost double what it should if they had their ducks lined up. An inability to give a correct and thourough calendar of dates in advance so students who have duties and responsibitlies futher then the schools 2 week time line, can make plans both professional and personnal. Teachers, though sincere in thier intentions and well trained in the Chinese method, lacking international experience and longterm experience generally. Alot of in class time versus real teaching going on. Endless quizing for what reason? Promised "extra cultural programming", being offered but poorly run. Unannounced class cancelations, (isn't that what all that contact information was for?).
Who is the customer here? Prehaps this is example of this country has so many people that the buisnesses don't really care because there will always be another sucker coming along.
In the end of course we are all on our own to make the best of things. However it pisses of this westener who values their time as much as their money! Is this what Chinese students must put up with? I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
If you are young and have time and money to kill and you want to take some mandarin courses, Kuming is a great place to do it, but this is not Shanghai or Beijing, and a serious student should look elsewhere.
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