Different schools, different rules

□     ACADEMIC DIFFERENCES: How does the academic system in the host country compares to MC?  specifically, how are the following things different:

o     Workload, as explained by previous students is not ever too heavy. Whenever there is work it is always relative to what is being taught. There aren't many papers or project presentations, but when there are they are supposed to be very interesting topics.

o    classroom culture is very similar to MC where in the classes that are taught in English, there will not be more than 15 students in each class. 

o    flow of the semester is also similar to MC where there are units within each class that will then be tested on.

o    expectations of students are also similar where it is expected that the student will be present in class, will do homework and study material covered in the classes and if that is done then the student will receive the grade that they deserve.

o    faculty/student relationships from what I have read from other students online, it appears that students and faculty have a close relationship. That the classes are small enough that they can really foster a strong relationship and work according to the pace that each student works at.

□     CREDITS:

o    How many credits are classes normally worth? Class credit is worth the same amount, so most classes are worth 3 credits, with comprehensive Mandarin being worth 6.

o    Are credits/workload valued differently in your host country than here? The number of classes will have to be different at JUFE. The maximum number of credits that I can take is 25. So I will probably try to take a few more classes then I usually would, especially since the amount of work for each one as far as I can tell from reading is less than it would be at Maryville. Also there seem to be a lot more night classes throughout each week which will be an interesting change to the few that I have taken so far in my college career.

o    Can you find information on how many hours/week each class will meet? I can't find a good representation of how often these classes will meet a week.

o    How will your credits transfer? 1 credit at JUFE equals 1 credit at Maryville 

□     GRADES:

o    Are letter grades in host country equivalent to the U.S.? They are still on the letter grade system, but the point distribution is a little bit different an A is 100-85, B is 84-75, C is 74-64, D is 63-60. Everything below this grade is failing. No complaints here since that gives me a larger span of an A that I could make.

□     SUPPORT:

o    What kinds of support services, academic resources, and tutoring available are available at your host institution? There is a Student Services Office with many resources available to me from finding a class room to buying a train/flight ticket. Beyond this office there are also "Chinese Corners" that is the equivalent of study hall where a Chinese student is present to answer questions ranging from language practice to cultural questions. Everything that I have read about support for students has been incredibly positive saying that there was never a point that they felt like they didn't have someone behind them supporting them 100% of the way.

□     FULL-TIME STATUS:

o     How many credits do you have to enroll in to be considered full time at both your home and host institution? At MC the minimum number of credits is 12, at JUFE the minimum number is 10 credits.

o    What is the minimum number of courses you have to take to be full-time there and full-time here? At MC you have to take at least 4 classes. I am unable to find how many I would have to take at JUFE, but I imagine it would be a similar number to be able to reach that 10 credit minimum.