Shanghai Daily

From the desk of…

Wednesday 29 September 2010

education express C3www.shanghaidaily.com

Editor’s Note:Welcome to a new school year and a new column. The column will explore educational themes and issues from the perspective of a manager working in international/bilingual education right here in Shanghai. Our goal is to offer fresh, innovative solutions to the education issues facing the international community in the 21st century. We hope these solutions will support parents, teachers, managers — and most saliently — children.

Richard Eaton is head of the international stream of Shang Yin campus at Shanghai United International School. Contact him at richarde@suis.com.cn with your questions or comments.

Choosing the right university for you

Marc Angus is principal of the British International School, Shanghai’s Nanxiang campus. The article is abridged due to space limitations. Contact him at XXXXXXX with your questions or comments.

How do you get your child into one of the best uni-versities? This question, which many parents ask,

is a complex one. However, there is another question that perhaps needs to be addressed first: What exactly is meant by the “best” universities?

There is undoubtedly an elite group of universities that are renowned throughout the world — Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, MIT, Yale. They are deservedly famous, have superb facilities, excellent teachers and in some instances, a degree from a top school gives a grad a head start in a career.

In addition, there are universities that have excellent reputations within their own countries but are perhaps not as well known abroad: Seoul in South Korea, Canberra in Australia, McGill in Canada, Leeds in England, Tokyo in Japan, Beijing in China (this list is far from exhaustive). These universities, and indeed many others, have the same standards in real terms as more internationally famous institutions.

However, there is another, perhaps more important, question that parents should ideally be asking: Which is the best university for my child?

The choice of university is a very personal one — not every student is suited to every institution. A wide variety of additional factors need to be considered alongside the school’s academic reputation.

Factors such as how comfortable a young adult would be living very far from home; the international nature (or otherwise) of the university town or city; the support services for inter-national students; the availability of scholarships for international students — all of these are important.

Even seemingly irrelevant fac-tors such as the weather can have a bearing on a student’s success and happiness. Many parents un-derestimate the effect of the social conditions at a university on the academic progress of students. The drop-out rate for universities some-what surprisingly runs at around 10 percent. Social support and friendship groups are important for all students.

A university with a tradition of accepting students from all over the world may be more welcoming to students from diverse backgrounds than those which do not have such traditions. Even for a student attend-ing university in their home country, such matters can be important.

A particular faculty and its reputa-tion are also important considerations when making a choice, and it should be borne in mind that in certain careers and professions it is undoubtedly true that the university one attends can influence future prospects and career.

That is why your choice should have as much to do with the speciali-ties and excellence of the teaching staff in the field that you would like to enter rather than simply more general notions of reputation.

For example, in the UK, Leeds and Edinburgh are recognized as superb medical centers and a degree from either is an excellent passport

around the world despite the schools not necessarily being seen as elite institutions.

Therefore, a key issue for parents and students is getting quality infor-mation that is relevant to you and the courses you wish to study.

Another way in which to seek infor-mation is to ask the professionals. If your child is interested in design, call a design company and ask for their thoughts. The same with engineer-ing, or medicine, or indeed any other career. Companies are in fact very willing to answer brief enquires and a little flattery can go a long way.

Cost is a real issue, of course, for many parents. Sending a child to

often have such provisos attached.Furthermore, it is worth approach-

ing a wider range of funding bodies that might be traditionally considered. Even in these credit crunch times, many large businesses and organiza-tions will still have financial aid packages available for university students.

Many do have “strings” attached, such as a requirement to work with the company for a period of time, but these “strings” might also be seen as benefits.

One shocking fact is that each year 22 percent of scholarships remain unclaimed, mostly because no one has applied for them. A quick search of the Internet is perhaps the best way to begin looking into the funding that might be available — simply typing “scholarship” into Google produces over 26 million hits.

Universities themselves often have discretionary funds available to help undergraduates in times of financial hardship but these are not available until the student is already enrolled. Plus, university finance managers take a very dim view of “planned hard-ship.” So beware.

The international award, intern-ships, community service, work experience, participation in school teams and sporting events can all contribute to whether students are ac-cepted at the university of their choice.

Academic grades play a huge part in the admissions process and there is no way around this. However, should your child’s grades fall below the absolute optimum for any reason, don’t despair. A gap year is no blemish on an appli-cation and, if well spent, can be a real asset. Using a gap year well and then retaking examinations that didn’t go so well can be a good use of time.

Remember one thing above all: A little planning and a lot of hard work, combined with a quality high school that really cares for its students, will make all the difference in the world.

WITH over 2,300 institu-tions granting four-year degrees and more than 1,800 two-year colleges, the United States has more col-leges and universities than the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa combined.

The UK has history and tradition; Canada boasts the opportunity to experience all four seasons and lower tuition costs; Australia, New Zealand and South Africa offer quality universities flavored with new world luxury. But when it comes to sheer quantity and diversity, America has it all.

With the Ivy League, a range of low-cost communi-ty colleges, schools in warm weather vacation spots (like California and Florida) and quality institutions in exotic locales (such as Alaska and Hawaii), it is easy to see why the US is still the des-tination of choice for young Chinese hoping to study abroad. The question is: Are they ready?

In Shanghai, it is easy to spot uniformed children coming home from cram-schools late in the evening. While academically savvy and hardened by the age of 18, are the approximately 100,000 Chinese students that will descend on American college campuses this fall socially prepared? Coming from a country where most children do not have siblings, where the culture values academic development over social flowering, one could argue that they are not.

A major part of the col-lege experience in America involves social networking. The connections you make with other young people, professors, or while doing a part-time job are likely to have career implications.

Building a web of connections in our rap-idly globalizing society has never been more important.

What can be done? This is not an easy question; nor

is it really the place of a sole American to propose a solu-tion, however important the question is in 21st century China. Nevertheless, I am compelled to offer a few ideas that might be helpful.

Encourage children from a young age to develop a balanced social life. As Mark Twain famously uttered: “I’ve never let school get in the way of my education.”

Encourage your children to learn from everything, to question things and to learn from the answers they find. A large part of the US col-lege experience is learning through doing. From discov-ering campus social groups and museums, to enjoying a sporting event, or even the random party, opportunities for cultural learning are abundant on campuses in America. These experiences should be seized.

Help young people de-velop self-discipline. When authority is present, Chinese students behave, and behave well. When authority is ab-sent, their behavior changes. American college campuses are ripe with temptations, and college professors will not waste time tracking down a student who hasn’t submitted an assignment.

Teach students to handle criticism, or the ability to absorb and grow from criti-cism. American students and teachers have a habit of being direct and opinion-ated. This can be misread by a Chinese student as an affront on one’s reputa-tion. In fact, the opposite is true. Aptly toned criticism is a gift in the US, and is believed to help one grow.

In the end, it’s about happiness, cooperation and understanding. For Chinese learners hoping to succeed in America, emotional well-being matters. What is more, an outgoing Chinese student who can absorb and grow from critical feedback is going to get the most of their experience abroad.

Are Chinese students ready to study abroad?

university is not simply a matter of paying the tuition fees. Accommoda-tion, food, travel, books — the costs mount up at a considerable rate.

The cost of tuition is not always directly linked to the quality of educa-tion on offer, or indeed the reputation of the university in its home country.

Careful research into the other indirect costs is vital when consider-ing a university, even in one’s home country, as costs can vary consider-ably from city to city.

Financial aid, bursaries and schol-arships are being offered more and more and looking into these and what is on offer can make a considerable difference to the overall cost.

The key factor here is to enquire early, in most cases some three to four years before the intended entry date. This is simply an issue of practicality as many scholarships have detailed re-quirements for entitlement that might involve a number of years of service to a particular institution or perhaps evidence of belonging to a particular community or service group. Sporting artistic and even musical scholarships

The choice of university is a very personal one — not every

student is suited to every institution.

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