Job Discussion Forums

[murray1978]

Hello,

I have been looking at university postings on Dave's ESL Cafe and noticed that China has two types of universities: Private and Public.

What is he difference between the two of them?
Are the students in public universities the same as the ones in private?

Could someone explain the differences and let me know which one is a better job?

Cheers,

Murray

[kungfuman]

[Non Sequitur]

I've never worked for one but there was a private uni right across from Qingdao Hotel Management College when I was there.
It may have closed since as I was told it wasn't working for the owners.
The other information I had was that the private unis catered for the kids who got poor Gao Kao scores.
As QHMC had also set up programmes for people who didn't meet the normal Gao Kao criteria it seems like they (QHMC) were cutting off the oxygen from privates.
How privates unis fit in to the enrolment application process isn't clear.
Last time I talked about this with a former student of mine, she said she was able to apply for freshman entry to up to nine public unis/vocationals.
My feeling is that privates cater for kids who don't meet even that level of GK attainment.
There may be a specialist component to consider also i.e. aviation colleges and the like.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

I worked for a semi-privatized college once. My impression was that they attracted students who wouldn't be able to get in too many public colleges or universities.

This was a vocational college, not a university, so there are probably many differences between the public and private.

I was paid better at the semi-privatized college, and I had better accommodations.

We did have our own FAO, something that surprised me. I'd have thought that the semiprivatization would free the government of having to supervise the FTs.

[7969]

This is a general idea of how the Chinese higher education system is organized:

1 or 一本大学. The best (public) schools in China, Peking University, Tsinghua, Fudan et al. They get the best students (highest gaokao score), and probably attract some of the best teachers too. Never met anyone who studied or worked at one of these places so no idea what it's like.

2A 学校. The upper half of the mid-level public universities. I'm at one of these schools and the students range from very good to not very good. The not very good students don't normally cause trouble, but they don't seem to want to do anything, they gaze out the window a lot, stare at their phones, struggle to answer questions, and I sometimes wonder why they're even here. But then I remind myself that some of them didn't choose this major on their own, so I don't blame them (too much) for being disinterested. The very good to middling students are usually a pleasure to teach, and if it wasn't for them I don't think I'd still be working here nine years on.

2B 学校. This is the lower half of the mid-level universities, some are public and others private. My previous job was at a 2B public college and the students weren't as good as those at my current 2A job. Not sure about the private 2B schools.

3A 大专. Three year community colleges, some public and some private. Some of them are vocational schools for those who maybe aren't academically gifted but who want to learn some practical skill. The level of student at these places is supposedly not very good, but after graduation the best students from these schools can apply for two more years of study at a 2A school and get a better qualification. Two of my current classes are made up of students from a variety of 3A schools. They're usually a bit older (one of my students in this group is 27), more mature, and they turned out to be a pretty decent group. Unfortunately because they came from a 3A school these students seem to be left out of activities and are looked down upon by some at our 2A school.

3B 中专. These are the lowest level schools, privately owned and where students usually pay much higher tuition (sometimes 3-4 X more than public schools). I've heard them referred to as "last chance u" and they don't seem to have a great reputation overall. I worked next to one such place in 2005-06 and the students were promised their diploma would say "Zhengzhou University" (with whom this college had a partnership) on it somewhere. When the graduating class got their diplomas with no mention of Zhengzhou University the students started razing the school to the ground and administrators were seen fleeing the campus on foot.

Which one is a better job is nearly impossible to answer as there are too many variables to consider.

[Non Sequitur]

My last school fitted your 3A and they were for the most part delightful. Local province mostly.
The 2nd year of the 3-year associate degree involved placement in industry and most were offered jobs during that time.
They were required to return to school for Y3 but there were so many dispensations in place that most were outa there by Semester Two.
The only thing I did not like was the school pushing the good looking ones at the recruiters in Careers Week when there were plainer and more able students who should have got the top jobs.

[Simon in Suzhou]

I've worked at a public university and 2 private universities. Public universities run the spectrum from the "Harvard of China" to really bad schools with students who can barely string together an English sentence. I worked at a public "medical college" which sounds like it would have good students, but while sweet, often found myself preparing lessons closer to phonics than anything else.

I'm sure private colleges have extremes as well, but the 2 I've worked at had THE BEST students I've taught in China. The minimum level of English was very high, and I could go in and have normal conversations with my students about daily life, current events, etc. These 2 colleges had very high tuitions, and while it is true they were "fallback" schools for the students who didn't get into their desired university, they were certainly not the dregs 7976 describes as "last chance U." These students didn't get the gaokao score to get into the TOP tier universities they were going for, but they were very good students from wealthy families (who had spent YEARS supplementing their English with lessons in private academies). The private university was seen as MUCH better than a 2A or 2B university and a face-saving option for the parents.

Of course, this is not the case for all private universities. Just my limited experience. The students were WAY better and the pay was about double of any public uni.

[Non Sequitur]

That's interesting Simon.
Did the medical u have a textbook?
I've seen 'Oxford English for Careers - Medical Studies' advertised but cannot locate anywhere/anyone who uses it.