To be quite honest I don’t think there’s much difference between the Long Term or the Short Term courses at BLCU. It’s hard to know for sure because I can only compare with what others have told me… But I can still remember thinking to myself: “I wish I was doing a short term course instead!” everytime I heard about the many activities the short term students had.

In brief, I think the short term course provides:

• More flexibility
• More freedom, time (unless you do the 30hr course)
• More activities, excursions
• More lenient teachers (can you even fail?)

I guess another way of describing the difference would be that:

• The long term course felt like I was going to a school with international students but still with homework, assignments, exams, stress and more homework.
• The short term course felt like a party/adventure with a bunch of people from all over the world.

Whether or not you learn more Chinese in the long term course or the short term course is really up to the individual though. I believe it’s a matter of will power, however the influence of peers can also make or break your progress… It’s pretty hard not to study when your peers fear failing the exams, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone to the cafe to study as often as I did if there was no incentive for me to pass each of the classes.

On the other hand, it isn’t rare to meet students who aren’t really students. They’re the ones who enroll, pay the fees, and never rock up to a class… I’m not exactly sure why they do that, but it happens.

For more details on start-end dates, costs etc download the Chinese Language Program 2009 here. Or you can have a look at the Beijing Language & Culture University website for international applicants.