This is me and my post rock band playing the music festival on on Peach Flower Island Beach off China.

On the boat with the bass player and drummer from the band.

 

Summer 2012

Wow! It has been a massively massive long long time that I haven't written on this blog, but to be honest I couldn't be bothered, and I've been really busy. I finished my second year of the English medium MBBS at Zhejiang University. I was awarded a scholarship of 700 GBP for being in the top three. That is the maximum scholarship they are giving out this year, and last year. I asked the international office and they said it might go up next year, but they do not know for sure. I also transfered to the Chinese language medical program. This is not because there is anything wrong with the English medium MBBS, but eversince coming to China I always wanted to study in Chinese in order to improve my Chinese. On the downside, this means I won't graduate until 2017 - swings and roundabouts!

I stayed here over the Summer to prepare for the Chinese course and earn some money for the tuition fees. I have had a really really busy Summer. I have been doing IELTS examining, teaching a class of 8 year olds; I was in an experimental drama in the Zhejiang Art Gallery; my post rock band went on tour (paid) and played a beach festival on peach flower island; I atteneded research labs in the anatomy department here; I gave a speech in the brand new stadium here in Zhejiang Universitiy's Zijingang campus for the new students (7000 of them)  and, oh yes, my parents came to visit.

This is a video of the ceremony in the new indoor olympic size sports stadium for the new students. If you look very closely, you can see me:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDQzNDg3ODg4.html

Wow! It has been a massively massive long long time that I haven't written on this blog, but to be honest I couldn't be bothered, and I've been really busy. I finished my second year of the English medium MBBS at Zhejiang University. I was awarded a scholarship of 700 GBP for being in the top three. That is the maximum scholarship they are giving out this year, and last year. I asked the international office and they said it might go up next year, but they do not know for sure. I also transfered to the Chinese language medical program. This is not because there is anything wrong with the English medium MBBS, but eversince coming to China I always wanted to study in Chinese in order to improve my Chinese. On the downside, this means I won't graduate until 2017 - swings and roundabouts!

I stayed here over the Summer to prepare for the Chinese course and earn some money for the tuition fees. I have had a really really busy Summer. I have been doing IELTS examining, teaching a class of 8 year olds; I was in an experimental drama in the Zhejiang Art Gallery; my post rock band went on tour (paid) and played a beach festival on peach flower island; I atteneded research labs in the anatomy department here; I gave a speech in the brand new stadium here in Zhejiang Universitiy's Zijingang campus for the new students (7000 of them)  and, oh yes, my parents came to visit.

I will post pictures of these events in the next few posts, if that makes sense!!!

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzM3NDIyODY4.html

This is a video of my band. It's an all female Chinese band, apart from me of course!

Direct Apps - Pay Attention!!!

If you apply to Zhejiang directly, your tuition fee will be more than 38000 RMB per year every year. If you send your application to me, the fee will be just over 34000 RMB. There is a service fee for this of 1000 GBP, but this is not paid until after you have an offer and it includes getting picked up and being driven around with a translator for the first few days here.

A few students came to me last year after they had applied directly and asked if I could get the cheaper fees, but I cannot do anything once the application has gone in. The initial application has to come through me.

FAQ about studying medicine in China

I receive quite a few emails from students asking about studying medicine in China. I have posted a couple of these, and my responses, below in case any of you have similar questions.

1.
Hi,

I read your blog it is a nice one, and i found that you are a med student in this school. This might be a good sort of info for me because I'm attempting to go to this medical school, but I have no clue what this school is like. So, l like to ask you about that.
1. How is the teaching quality?
2. Are there a lot of international students there?
3. How is the dorm?
4. How's about foods there?
5. Is it a good school?

Thank a lot
I'm looking forward to hearing back from you


Hello Aim,


Thanks for your email. The teaching quality is good and we get a lot of experience. Over the 6 years, each student gets 9 bodies to dissect, which is much more than most medical schools. I studied my first degree in Aerospace engineering in The University of Manchester about 10 years ago and I would say the teaching here is on a par with that. Chinese students are very hard working, which has a good effect on the international students. It means our course is tough and there is a lot to learn.

We have students who have come from universities in Russia and the Caribbean with well renowned medical programmes, have completed a couple of years there and then come to the first year here. They came because they weren't happy with the courses there. One student who was studying in Russia said he had hardly had any exams until the 3rd year! Here we have tough exams every six months.

It is important to choose a challenging medical course because it will help you with board exams once you finish and of course saving lives.

There are just over one hundred students in each year from Thailand, Mauritius, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, India, Korea, Singapore, UK, USA and many other countries.

Click on this link for a tour of the dorms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhgrpiVH0S4

They are fine, but I am a mature student so decided to move out to a bigger place near the school which works out at just over 100 GBP per month, with a swimming pool!

I like there food here. There is obviously a lot of Chinese food on campus. It really good and very healthy, lots of vegetables! There is also a Muslim canteen which does good food. The world ranking is No. 218

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010

Chinese universities are on the up though in world rankings because China is putting so much of its GDP into them. Especially the 9 top universities on the Chinese governments list. Of these, Zhejiang is traditionally thought of as the 3rd university in China, and there are a lot of universities in China!

Let me know if you have any questions. Are you thinking of going this year? Where are you from?

Best Wishes,

Henry

2.

Hi, I' m an Italian student. I would like to study in the uk, but it's too expensive. Studying in China seems interesting but i don't know chinese at all. What kind of certificate of language do you need? how much do you think it's needed to learn a sufficient level of chinese? Thanks!

Hello, Sorry for the delay in replying. You don't need any Chinese to get on to the course, because it is all taught in English. Chinese is taught along side the medical courses in the first four years, so that by the time you come to do your internship your Chinese is good enough to communicate with the patients. The majority of students on the course have zero Chinese when they start. If you have any questions, please email me at mavisdavies@gmail.com or you can skype me on: henrydavies, or have a look at this website www.studymedicineinchina.co.uk

Chinese New Year Holiday!!!!

Me in the Snow

Zhejiang University Campus

The Administration Building in Zhejiang University

And the brand new university sports stadium!

"Can you tell what it is yet???" Zhejiang University Campus

More of the campus

An artistic shot

Hangzhou bicycle bin trucks

Shanghai Train Station!!! Looks more like an airport!

The new highspeed train from Hangzhou to Shanghai, but it only goes 350 odd km/h and takes nearly an hour to get there, so they are building a faster one. Seriously! And this one only just opened.

My new flat after moving out of university accommodation. Uni accommodation is ok, but my rent here is just over 100 GBP a month for a brand new 20th floor apartment with simming pool and badmington courts. You can't say fairer than that! Thanks landlord.

And my sofa, which I bought for 30 quid, yes 30 pounds!!!

I haven't written for a long time because I've been so busy studying and also working part time. I do a bit of English teaching here to subsidise the living and tuition fees. It is easy finding well paid work in Hangzhou, because most TEFL teachers go to Shanghai or Beijing.

The first term went well but was quite hectic. Getting back into studying after not doing any for 10 years was quite a challenge. I graduated from the University of Manchester with a gentleman's degree (a Desmond TuTu) in Aerospace Engineering in 2001. It was tough, but learning again is so rewarding and coming to study medicine in China is definitely the best decision I have ever made in my life.

For the winter term we studied Systemic Anatomy, Histology, Biochemistry and of course Chinese. We need to learn Chinese in order to communicate with patients in the internship in the hospitals in the fifth year. If our Chinese is not good enough by then there is always the option of doing the internship in an English speaking country instead, but I am really keen to do it here because it would be great to come out with a medical degree and fluent Chinese at the end of the five and a half years. We also had a guest professor from Holland come over to do a brain dissection, which was very interesting. Next term we will study Physiology, Medical Genetics, Regional Anatomy and some more Chinese. We will also begin dissection. Students at Zhejiang get eight bodies to dissect over the time that we are here.

The exams at the end of the semester were quite tough, but we were taught well for them and I have heard from quite a few students on the course that have previously studied in English medium medical programmes in other countries in the world that ours is far superior.