Academic Focus
This program is designed for students at any language level who want to complement their Chinese language studies with a business elective course focused on China in the Age of Globalization. You will take one Chinese language course which will focus on listening comprehension, conversation, and grammar at the beginning level and listening comprehension, conversation, grammar as well as reading and writing at the intermediate and advanced levels. The second course, you will take is called China’s Economic Development: Issues and Opportunities.
This elective course is designed for students interested in a survey of Chinese economy over time. It provides an overview of Chinese economic development over the past decade and emphasizes China’s future development and the impact it will have on the world economy. The course will combine lectures, discussions, guest speakers as well as field trips in order to experience the Chinese economic revolution first-hand.
The 4-week Chinese language course meets for 80 hours*, equivalent to 5 credits. The summer business elective meets for 48 hours, equivalent to 3 credits. The total combined contact hours are 128 which is generally worth 8 credits in the US semester system. However, it is up to the discretion of your academic advisor how much credit will be awarded.
*NOTE: In the Chinese educational system, each lesson meets for 40 minutes which is considered the equivalent of a 50-minute lesson in the US. Therefore, each 40-minute lesson is considered one credit hour in the calculation of total contact hours.
Schedule Summary
Your Chinese language course will meet 2 ½ hours a day, Monday through Friday, in the morning. Your elective course will meet for 2 to 2 ½ hours Monday to Thursday afternoons.
Course Registration
Registration will take place on the Friday preceding your official program start date. On that day, you will also be taking a placement exam if you have previously studied Chinese. You will then be placed in classes with other students, American as well as international, of your own language level. The university offers Chinese language courses at three different levels: beginning, intermediate and advanced but may break students who fall in between two of these levels into separate groups. In order to ensure that you receive credit for the level that you place into, it is in your best interest to have courses at several levels approved by your academic advisor prior to departure.
