I may have been to specific, I was hoping to get at least one reply?

Never studied here. I don't have the money to bribe teachers to pass. That said, I have visited Xiamen Uni. It has a very nice environment on a large campus with lots of open space and a few lakes and nature areas. It is said to be the most beautiful uni in china. Dunno, but possible considering some others i have seen. Although I don't live there, i found the city very nice, a bit like woolongong with chinese characteristics. Beaches are good, food excellent, not polluted, hot girls and a few interesting places such as gu lang yu. My mate from Oz lives there and loves it.

Thanks for that Wolf.  'A bit like the Gong', sounds good to me.

I'm also not the person you're looking for to reply.. but...

I did teach at a 'co-op' program for UTas. The Chinese students were supposed to do a few years here and get a degree, then go to Tas to get another degree. They had English language requirements. To the best of my very limited knowledge, none of the students I had taught those 4 years ago or so have gone to Aus to further their education, due to their poor English language ability (the only ones who had a chance chose to go elsewhere).

So, what I"m saying is - just because there's a co-op program happening, doesn't ensrue the education will be any better!

As for your choices - Beijing will be like a more polluted Sydney (are you from Sydney??)

SUFE - so, you're with Deakin??? Again, like a more polluted Sydney. SUFE is considered China's #3 university. That may not really mean much as far as education goes for you. I've been to SUFE campus - nothing to write home about.

Neither have beaches you want to go to (although, BJ does have QingDao and Tianjin just down the road...).

Xiamen and Ningbo are both right on the coast.

At least with Ningbo, there is a large co-op program with Nottingham University, which may have some influence on how they teach.. no guarantees, but you never know!

From all the exchange students I've spoken to here, none of them say any glowing reports regarding their teachers, style, or whatever.

Don't trust their websites!!!

The important questions really are: will you learn Putonghua? Yes. Will your teachers and classes improve your putonghua much more than just living in China? Probably, but only because you're being 'forced' to study (as against, the self-motivation thing that stops most of us).

In all honesty, just coming to the land where the language is spoken is going to make the biggest difference to your language skills - not the fact you're doing at the local university.

Are you looking to do a MA or PhD? Or just at undergrad level?

One other thing to take into consideration (unfortunately). You will have been studying Putonghuarrrrr at your uni. That's really just a dialect that's been imposed upon the rest of the country by Beijing. So, your Putonghua may be fantastic, but in SH, XM and NB, you may still get a lot of 'tingbudong'. Shanghaiese are very parochial about their dialect, and Xiamen has a strong element of Fujian (Hokkien) as well. Meaning, your conversations with locals won't be as clean and clear as you'd like. (I'm not sure about Ningbo). So, sure, the students will be easier to understand, but the oldies in the shops and markets may give you grief.

Teaching styles - may well be old school grammar translations. And you may find that while linguistically and grammatically, you may be right... if you say something that they don't accept in the culture, you can be wrong. I was told a story about (IIRC) the use of the word 'need'. One person said they 'needed' their dictionary - no, sorry, that's not the sort of 'need' the teacher would accept.

You may also want to consider politics. BJ is right in the heart of CCP territory. Xiamen is right opposite Taiwan ( you can get a ferry to 'Taiwan' - JInMen Dao) that takes about 30 mins for about $20). I'd suggest it'd be worth the experience! No visa required.

While I'm not going to advise per se, I would suggest either Ningbo or Xiamen - purely because you can breathe (sometimes). Shanghai does have some good days - but being from Bris, I'd NEVER want to live there! There are times when, up on 37th floor, I couldn't see more than a K or so due to pollution. BJ is the same. These will be regular!

(PS - don't eat the seafood... you'll be disappointed! Or, maybe, do eat the seafood, so you know how good we have it!)

Shining-brow, excellent, this is the sort of feedback I am looking for.  I am in Sydney and start at Western Sydney University, (formerly UWS) next week.  I agree with you about  learning more of the language by living in China, this is why I would be looking at studying politics or humanities, rather than a straight language course.  I understand that Xiamen also has some good diplomatic units as it is a place where the children of diplomats study, or so I am lead to believe.  The Aussie Government adds an extra $1000 AUD to your  grant to do a local language course if that is not your major, so I think that might be the go.  I will be studying as an undergrad, and eventually I hope to teach Maritime English (ESP) in China, as this is my background. If anyone else has some local information on Ningbo, please reply.

Thanks again, Regards.

I have studied in a Chinese university, but not mandarin. For learning Chinese I think they are OK, classes combined with being in China and speaking all day you will slowly start to learn something.  But for anything else the universities here are hopeless. The mentality they have is that you pay for the degree you get at the end, rather than the actual education.

A fairly common scenario is the teacher only teaches half the scheduled classes, and when you complain they just say "oh, but it's ok, you will pass anyway". The idea that you went there because you actually wanted to learn something is foreign to them. Also it is actually impossible to fail and literally everyone cheats often right put in the open and the examiner does nothing. And this was in a uni ranked in the top 5 in China!

I left after 2 years with a masters degree which was invaluable for getting a good job, but in terms of knowledge I was basically no better of than when I started. So I strongly suggest that while you're here that you just focus on the Mandarin, and leave the rest until you are back in Australia.

For the location I would suggest Xiamen or Shanghai.  Lots of people rave about Xiamen, personally I find it overrated and have never really seen what the fuss is about. But it's a perfectly decent and livable city, and as mentioned above the university has a great campus. I love Shanghai, it's a great city. But it's big with universities all over the place. If the finance and economics university is relatively central then you can have a great time there. But don't expect the "authentic Chinese experience" in Shanghai and living there is expensive now. Beijing is terrible, avoid it like the plague, and I know very little about Ningdo.