Job Discussion Forums

[Foo_Fighters_Dave]

Hi,

I am noticing that job ads are being posted for Chinese universities. I am noticing that some are private and some are public. Which type generally has better students?

[Kierana]

Public.

Private ones will be for students who couldn't get into public universities and their attitudes/scores usually reflect that fact.

Also the private universities tend to be run like a business where the students get away with anything but the teacher would be punished for any/all reasons.

TL;DR Avoid private universities in China like the plague in my opinion.

[cdchristy]

I have worked both. The public university was extremely low ranked. So, I thought the private university was perhaps a little better. Some of the students who go to the private university can attend a public university, albeit a low-ranked one.

[teenoso]

I have worked in both, and the students in private unis were probably brighter than in the lower ranked public unis, just with a different focus: more worldly, less academic and less interested in the rote memorisation necessary to do well in the public education system here.
So you might get more interesting classes in a private uni.

The management of the two kinds of Unis also differs, but an individual boss can make a big difference and I've had good and bad experiences with both types with management, so it's largely down to luck ......

[Simon in Suzhou]

As others have said here, it's impossible to make a categorical assumption that one is better than the other. The "Ivy League" of China are public Unis- Tsinghua, etc. But "public" universities also include the LOWEST level of secondary education as well. It's a very wide range.

Private university students are often wealthier kids who didn't get into the university of their choice, but that doesn't mean they are terrible students. If their goal was a top 10 Uni, they could still be in the top 20% of students nationwide, but don't want to attend a lower level public university. Many private universities are better than mid to lower level public ones. Many private universities are also not very good. So yeah.

I taught at a very good public uni and a lower level public uni (where the students English was at elementary school level. Really.). I also taught at a decent private university where the students were not as good as the former but MUCH BETTER than the latter. The difference was my salary at the private uni was double what both public universities paid.