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All This is a reply from head of SOAS re the email that I sent about comments made by the admissions tutor at SOAS. Regards Anne Martin ----- Original Message ----- From: Michel Hockx To: 'Anne Martin' Cc: 'Andrew Lo' ; 'Michel Hockx' Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 2:01 PM Subject: RE: Chinese at University Dear Anne Martin, Thank you for your e-mail. The BA Chinese programme at SOAS, like any other BA Chinese in the country, is an ab initio programme. However for quite a few years already we have been running with a first-year "advanced beginners" group, in which we can accommodate those starting with roughly the equivalent of GCSE Chinese. At the moment, we simply cannot accommodate anyone with even more prior knowledge than that, because we have no courses to offer them in the context of this ab initio programme. It would be unfair to other students to accept those who are overqualified for the programme in its current form. However, those who are overqualified for BA Chinese have many other ways of studying Chinese at SOAS at higher levels, through elective courses that can be taken as part of a degree in a different subject. It is a misunderstanding to think that the only way to study Chinese at SOAS is through the BA Chinese. We are currently not considering accepting students with A levels in Chinese, because the current level of difficulty of the A level exam is well above the level of any BA course in modern Chinese. As far as I understand, through discussions with teachers at schools like yourself, there is currently a great gap between GCSE-level and A-level. We are therefore very much looking forward to the introduction of the new A-level syllabus in 2008, which will hopefully be a true progression upwards from the GCSE. This will hopefully result in non-native speakers of Chinese arriving at our gates with a higher entry level, and we would of course adjust our own entry levels accordingly. Chinese is a very popular subject at university at the moment. This year we started with 90 students in the first-year, only 15 of whom were advanced beginners (i.e. roughly GCSE level). We do our very best to accommodate students with as many different backgrounds as possible, but we have to set the limit somewhere and, most of all, we have to be honest about what we can and cannot do with the limited resources that we have. I have great respect for what is being accomplished by teachers in schools like yourself, and I have no doubt that the nature of our BA will change over time as a result of that. At the moment, however, the vast majority of our applicants are still beginners, and this has consequences for the maximum entry level that we can set. I reiterate that there are many other ways of studying Chinese at SOAS at a wide variety of levels. If your student already holds an unconditional offer and is taking GCSE this year, he is not overqualified and there is no reason for him to ease off on his studies. He should however realize that with GCSE in hand he will be at the top end of the class for modern Chinese, which is an important part of the first-year curriculum. If he would like to be at the top end for other parts of the curriculm as well, then rather than focusing on becoming even more proficient in modern Chinese before entering the programme, he might be best advised to prepare by focusing on the other skills that are essential to do well on a BA Chinese, such as reading and translating classical Chinese, reading and writing full-form characters and analyzing Chinese literary and cultural phenomena. This should in no way be understood as advice to "ease off" on his current studies for the GCSE. We try to be as clear as we can about what we can and cannot do in our programme, and we try to give the best possible advice to applicants who want to prepare themselves before entry. I regret that you find it appalling that we try to offer clarity, transparency and useful advice to our applicants. I do, however, appreciate your feedback and I hope that this e-mail has offered even more clarification of our policies and of the nature of our programme. Kind regards, Michel Hockx ============================================== Michel Hockx Professor of Chinese Chair, Department of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia SOAS Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London WC1H 0XG UNITED KINGDOM Tel.: +44 (0)20 7898 4222 Fax : +44 (0)20 7898 4399 E-mail : [log in to unmask] WWW : http://www.soas.ac.uk/eastasiafiles/hockx/ ============================================ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Anne Martin [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 19 February 2007 12:09 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Chinese at University I am a secondary school teacher of Chinese and I am teaching a non native mature student who is taking GCSE Chinese this year. He already has some A levels and has applied to SOAS and has been given an unconditional offer to study Chinese. At the open day last week an admissions tutor at SOAS was asked by someone how they viewed students with A level Chinese. The admissions tutor replied that a student with A level Chinese would probably not be offered a place to study Chinese at SOAS as their course starts from the beginning and they have no course for those with A level already. My student who is taking GCSE was told to ease off on his studies. I am appalled by this attitude. We in secondary schools are working hard to get our students through GCSE and A level with good grades to be told this by an admissions tutor at a leading University. Regards Anne Martin