Job Discussion Forums

Mary Ann Davis · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 30 Location: Asia

Shenda University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province.

I know that the province is polluted, etc. It's the school itself that I'm intrested in knowing about: do they pay on time, make repairs, honor their contract, clean the rooms, stuff like that. Thanks. Mary Ann

North China Laowei · Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 419

In a few words -- don't go there unless you are completely desperate.

1. If you are married, then your living conditions will be OK. Just OK.

2. If you are single, then you will be shoved into a small, cramped, dormitory-type room.

3. Hot water only functions between certain hours of the day or early evening and I don't remember which but it is limited.

4. The students are not even third-tier level students -- they are students who totally failed the university entrance examination. Their parents pay Shenda a lot of money and then they are "admitted" to the school.

5. About 18 months ago, Shenda was the scene of some of the worst student rioting in China. It took paramilitary forces nearly two days to regain control of the campus.

6. Shenda's draw is that is hires hoodles and hoodles of raw, unqualified foreign teachers to teach the students and frankly the gig is up and the students have caught on.

7. Shenda is a college and not a university and in the past it used to be "affiliated" with a very famous university and the diplomas were issued under the name of the famous university. That is finished -- the province ended it -- and that is what caused the riots.

8. There are two colleges in China that are similar like this -- Peizheng College in Guangzhou and Shenda College near Guangzhou. Both hire legions of foreign teachers as a draw (with no emphasis on quality at all or even preliminary qualifications) and the atmosphere can resemble something out of Alice-in-Wonderland on the best of days.

9. Final word -- avoid at all costs.

lf_aristotle69 · Joined: 06 May 2006 Posts: 546 Location: HangZhou, China

Do you mean ShengDa College? S H E N G ?

ShengDa College Riots - 15 June 2006

Originally discussed in an offtopic post by Anda here: Anda's post is halfway down the page

More info about ShengDa College previously discussed on Daves here:
Another piece of ShengDa College info from Anda

Why don't you just do a search on "shengda" yourself.

LFA

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

wow, after hearing about that riot at shengda college i'm surprised. in june 2006 i was working at the zhengzhou economics and business management institute (i think its right next door to shengda) and i never heard a word about this riot.

lf_aristotle69 · Joined: 06 May 2006 Posts: 546 Location: HangZhou, China

Lucky for you! Sounds like things would have been pretty heated (no pun intended) for a while there.

It's full name is: The Shengda Economic, Trade and Management College of Zhengzhou University. The campus was closed off to the outside world for a week or two afterwards I gather.

Of course, that was years ago... well, 2 years ago... I'm sure everybody's got their tempers under control by now and it's business as usual.

LFA

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

here's a link for that school from chinatefl.com.

http://zdsd.chinatefl.com/Introduction/zdsd.html

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

PM me for answers to detailed questions about ShengDa. What do you want to know?

pdsqzy · Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 9 Location: Philippines

I must say I've had a different experience as many of you seemed to have. I taught at ShengDa from Feb 2007 - Jan 2008 and loved it. Yeah, this was after the riot. The apartment was fine (tho hot water was limited). Most students were great (except for the senior writing classes who generally did not want to learn much). I had no problem with the environment and the FAO treated us very well. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

pdsqzy · Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 9 Location: Philippines

Yes, some of the senior class students I had were involved in the riot. I must also say the school is not top notch. Text material ranges from adequate (for the oral classes) to worthless (for the writing classes). Yes, students parents pay a lot for their diploma. But the vast majority of the students tried their best and responded very well to a reasonably good teacher. We had about 30 FTs while I was there and probably 3 or 4 (of the teachers) were rather questionable. Facilities and support were very good. They definitely lived up to their end of the contract. The college is about 50 km from the city of Zhengzhou where you really need to go for serious shopping. But a free bus (both ways) is available on Saturday and the local bus only costs 3 yuan. For me, I never had any difficulty, on campus or off. I'd call that a good experience.

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

It's amazing how much North China Laowei professes to know about different Chinese schools, visa regulations and what have you. He sounds like an "Old China Hand". How someone could have acquired so much knowledge in so short a time is beyond me...unless he boned up before immigrating from La Habana. Twisted Evil

pdsqzy · Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 9 Location: Philippines

I guess everyone has an opinion to express. But opinion is not fact. I've heard about some horror stories but a little common sense and a good attitude can make china, or any other place, a very enjoyable adventure. Like I said, Shengda has some problems but they definitely made my experience there very rewarding and enlightening.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

lf_aristotle69 · Joined: 06 May 2006 Posts: 546 Location: HangZhou, China

7969, maybe we shouldn't be too quick to say that.

I don't ever recall reading in any of the articles referenced above, or in other threads, about what the final resolution was.

Obviously, the students calmed down and life went on there at ShengDa.

Does anyone here know for sure why? Did the original parent University (ZhengZhou University) agree to grant Diplomas/Degrees in their name? Did ShengDa College or ZhengZhou Uni pay money back to the students? I mean the only reason the students were paying such high fees was because they believed they would receive a Degree/Diploma with higher standing in the Chinese job market.

I think that most of the students who were 1st and 2nd year students in ShengDa College 4-year Degree programs at the time of the riots in mid-2006 would still be there now. As would Diploma students who would have been in the 1st year of their 3-year courses at that time.

What happened? Are the students in fact reasonably satisfied now, or at least not being lied to anymore? Have fees dropped to fairer levels for new intakes in September 2006, 2007 and soon in 2008?

LFA

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

LFA, chinese students dont have the right, as far as i know, to change their university. so barring a change by the min. of educ., most of them would have had no choice but to either stay at shengda (bad choice) and get a lesser diploma, or just quit and get no diploma (worse choice).

and no resolution post 2006 riots has been provided, even by one poster who claimed he just finished working there three months ago. surely if something positive happened in that respect, he would have said so? he does say it was a good experience for him and the school upheld the contract.

as far as i can tell, the students were cheated and thats it.