As the new semester begins, some university students will be
carrying English versions of their textbooks into class, according
to latest issue of Beijing Today.
Adopting English version textbooks is a new trend in Beijing's
universities. More and more universities are now running courses
that use English version textbooks for non-English-major students,
especially for those majoring in computer science, management and
economics.
Tsinghua
University currently offers 54 subjects that require students
to use English textbooks. Each subject has two streams per
semester: one is conducted bilingually, the other in English.
Students can choose either. If they pass the English one, their
transcript will be marked "Eng". Last year, the university spent 23
million yuan (US$2,782,179.54) on English version textbooks. Beijing University
doesn't have a uniform policy regarding textbooks, but leaves the
choice up to the relevant departments. Professors with overseas
educational background prefer to use such textbooks and let their
students do presentation and research reports according to
international academic standards.
“In general, they are well written and many have been revised and
updated several times in the latest editions," says Jin Fuchun, a
professor from Chi Center for Economic Research. Among the
students, English version textbooks are popular for high standard
of their case studies, statistical analysis, and beautiful
graphs.
However, studying entirely from English textbooks is still at the
experimental stage. Students find it expensive to buy such
textbooks. On average, the price of an imported book is five times
that of a domestically published one. Also it takes students time
to get used to the terms and expressions. Many take electronic
dictionaries to class with them when using such textbooks for the
first time.
( 08/30/2001)