SII is the official partner of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.SWUFE is ranked top 3 in finance and business-oriented universities in China. As a student in Chengdu, you, consequently, should be proud to have mandarin courses there.
What to say about SWUFE?
SWUFE has a tumultuous history. Back in 1925, a university called Kwang Hua was created in Shanghai. In 1938,because ofthe Japanese advance into mainland China, the university was relocated in the western China, in Chengdu. After the Second World War, Kwang Hua University moved back its main activities in Shanghai.
Consequently, the branch campus of Chengdu became independent and was renamed Chenghua University. In 1952, the university was merged with schools and departments of business and economics from 16 other universities and colleges and was, once again, renamed as the Sichuan Institute of Finance and Economics. From 1980 to 2000, the People’s Bank of China took over the administration of the university. During this period, the university received its current name: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. And in 2000, the administration was transferred to the Ministry of Education.
SWUFE is divided into two campuses where foreigners can learn. The first one, built in 1938 and called Guanghua, is located downtown. The second one, built in 2004 and named Liulin, is located in the suburb of Chengdu and measure 107 hectares.
What are the teaching specialties of each campus?
On the new campus,you have business, management and finance classes with teachers who speak English and,of course, Chinese. Those teachings are not only general but also very technical. You can come here as an undergraduate but also as a doctoral candidate.
On the old campus,you can learn Chinese. First, you will pass a small exam to determine your level. Then you will be given a class in line with the results you got from the test. Chinese classes occur every morning, so you can improve very quickly your language proficiency.
What about life there?
On the two campuses of SWUFE you can not only study during class and in the big library of Liulin campus but also have some great time; at any time of the day and any day of the week, you will see people playing badminton anywhere in campuses, reading or chatting on a bank, running around parks… You can practice sports too. There are stadiums, gymnasiums, tennis, badminton, basketball and Ping-Pong grounds and two swimming pools. And if all of that is not enough for you, you can go in a fitness club close to your campus.
At SWUFE, there are dormitories especially for foreigners. It means that, contrary to Chinese students, people coming from abroad have their own room with their own bathroom. It is quite convenient and rooms are big so these dormitories are very comfortable.
The harder choice is to decide on which campus you should live.
Chengdu is a very nice place for foreign students. It is a big city –bigger than any city in Europe for you to get an idea on how big is Chengdu– and people here are very nice. Moreover, there are many places to visit in the neighborhood as you can see in our previous articles.
In my opinion, if you want to study Chinese, you should live on the Guanghua campus. There are many coffee shops inside and outside the campus to study and there is also a library just next to the main gate. This campus is downtown so the night life is very exciting here.
If you are studying business, finance or management, you should live on Liulin campus. There, it is easier to practice sports and the installations were built more recently. The dormitory is also more comfortable and there are more students there. Moreover, most of the students and this campus can speak English, it is not the case on the other campus. The library on this campus is a very nice place to study, what’s more, you can book a room when you want to do a meeting with your classmates. About night life, it is some get-together of some students in apartments. You can also go downtown but it’s a bit expensive –compared to Chinese way of life, of course!
Why do I advise you to choose to live on the campus you are studying? It is only because if you want to go from one campus to the other, it requires 45 minutes. You can go by shuttle bus or by metro plus public buses. But it remains tiresome when your classes starts at 8:30.
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