Business with Chinese - No Electives

armada104

Right, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that all academic programmes had to comprise ten Horizons credits in each stage. This is apparently not so on Business with Chinese.

Last year the programe broadly followed the same academic structure as BCIT, with 6 Commerce modules, 4 Chinese modules (two of which were language) and 2 electives.

For the forthcoming year the two language modules have been split into four, two of which are Core, and two of which are to be offered as electives. Students are being "strongly advised" to take the two extra modules.

The two Core modules are Listening and Speaking (1&2) and the two electives are Reading and Writing (1&2). In the third year of this programme, students will spend a year in China, during which time the ability to read and write Chinese characters is presumably kinda important.

This effectively leaves students no choice but to choose the extra language modules.

In many respects it's a good thing that extra time and money are being devoted to teaching what is not an easy language. On the other hand, first years who have chosen this programme with free choice of electives in mind are about to get a nasty shock. I am not aware of any other programme that is allowed to meddle with the Horizons concept like this. Is there any precedent for this?

Chakar

The normal number of modules each semester is 6, with an overall 12 modules in each stage. However some courses have for example 7 modules in the first semester and five in the second semester. Hope that clarifies the situation.

armada104

Chakar wrote:

The normal number of modules each semester is 6, with an overall 12 modules in each stage. However some courses have for example 7 modules in the first semester and five in the second semester. Hope that clarifies the situation.

Thanks, but I understand that. Maybe I didn't explain this clearly enough.

This year the Business with Chinese Studies course (for 1st and 2nd years) will comprise:

6 Commerce modules
4 Chinese Studies modules
2 Electives

Students are "strongly advised" to choose two additional language modules as their electives, resulting in a total of 6 Chinese Studies Modules.

These two additional modules are called "Chinese Reading and Writing". Few would dispute that reading and writing are a pretty integral part of language learning. So students are esentially forced to choose these modules.

The implications of this could be university-wide. Maybe similar situations exist in other programmes, but I have never heard of them. Other schools will rightly ask why they aren't allowed to act like this, and first years on this programme won't understand why they can't choose their own electives, like everyone else in UCD.

dontdoit

Sounds like u can choose but to take the 'suggested' modules would probly help you learning the new language. Talk to your student advisor for advise when u start.
Best of luck with it!

the evil lime

I think they did something similar to the BBLS crowd when horizons was brought it. They pretty much told them which electives they had to take. Not certain about that though, as I didn't do BBLS, just had a few friends who did.

armada104

Forgot about BBLS actually, so I suppose that answers my question. Still a bit odd though. Thanks

analyse this

Yeah I've just accepted Business and Chinese and I noticed that too. I think what I'm going to do is do Elementary Reading and writing 1 as one of my electives in Stage 1 and probably Linear Algebra with Applications to Economics as the other. In Stage 2 I'll choose Elementary reading and writing 2 as an elective. I know its not ideal, but it should suffice. Plus my Chinese aunty is taking me to Beijing next year for a month so I should learn a little there too. Have you accepted an offer to this course? I'd love to know at leats one person before going in!:o

ChineseSpeaker

i had a friend doing this course with the same thoughts but apparently it's been sorted out now. It's a tough language, and the extra modules will come in handy i think. i needed all the help i could get when i first started chinese. If anyone wants any lessons for beginners chinese with a native irish person pm me....

analyse this

Are they really necessary? I mean the core chinese modules (Listening and Speaking 1 and 2) comprise of certain reading and writing elements too! Is that not adequate?:o Please say yes! I really want to use my electives for more math-related modules!

analyse this

ChineseSpeaker wrote:

i had a friend doing this course with the same thoughts but apparently it's been sorted out now. It's a tough language, and the extra modules will come in handy i think. i needed all the help i could get when i first started chinese. If anyone wants any lessons for beginners chinese with a native irish person pm me....

Care to explain?:o

Stepherunie

Tbh many courses have a thing like there where modules that are offered as electives are strongly advised.

In first radiography biochemistry and chemistry, which used to be a compulsory subject for those of us on the old course, is now an elective module which students are very strongly advised to take. Same thing occurs with introduction to physics.