Language no issue for Indians studying in Chinese varsity
URUMQI: Nazish Shaikh and Natique Parvez are two of the 15-odd Indian students who are following postgraduate courses at the Xinjiang Medical University in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Both from Maharashtra, they worked in government hospitals in New Delhi for three years before moving to China last November.
Earlier this week, Shaikh and Parvez chatted with HT over Chinese sweets about
THIS (XINJIANG UNIVERSITY) IS A WELL-KNOWN AND LESS EXPENSIVE THAN OTHER COLLEGES. FACILITIES ARE MUCH BETTER THAN MANY OF INDIAN UNIVERSITIES
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their lives in Urumqi and what got them to this remote corner of China – some 2200 km from Beijing.
Both came to XMU on scholarships after the University began to offer post-graduate courses few years ago.
“This is a well-known university and also less expensive than other colleges say in Fudan and Beijing. It is a teaching hospital and the facilities are very good,” Shaikh said, sitting with Parvez in their relatively spacious hostel room in the university.
“It’s great exposure for us,” said Parvez. The facilities offered at the hospital and university is better than many of the best hospitals in India, both said.
Cutting across the language barrier is of course a problem. “We tried to learn the language in the first few months. But it’s very difficult. Better if we devote time to studying medicine,” Shaikh said flipping through note books in which he used to practice writing Mandarin.
The language problem hasn’t stopped more than 8,500 Indian students — many of them doing their MBBS courses — from enrolling in various medical universities across China.
Course costs vary between 35000 Yuan (`350,000) to 50000 Yuan (`5,00,000) per year.
XMU reputation has attracted students from many countries but mostly from Pakistan. There are more than 600 Pakistani medical students, by far the largest group of foreign students at the university. “They are very helpful. Our views about Pakistan have changed,” Shaikh said. And earlier, Pakistani students were keen to point out which hostel – and even which floor – Indian students could be found. For the small Indian group, a few friendly faces in an alien land would surely be more than welcome.