As the new semester begins, some university students will be carrying English versions of their textbooks into class, according to latest issue of Beijing Today.

Adopting English version textbooks is a new trend in Beijing's universities. More and more universities are now running courses that use English version textbooks for non-English-major students, especially for those majoring in computer science, management and economics.

Tsinghua University currently offers 54 subjects that require students to use English textbooks. Each subject has two streams per semester: one is conducted bilingually, the other in English. Students can choose either. If they pass the English one, their transcript will be marked "Eng". Last year, the university spent 23 million yuan (US$2,782,179.54) on English version textbooks. Beijing University doesn't have a uniform policy regarding textbooks, but leaves the choice up to the relevant departments. Professors with overseas educational background prefer to use such textbooks and let their students do presentation and research reports according to international academic standards.

“In general, they are well written and many have been revised and updated several times in the latest editions," says Jin Fuchun, a professor from Chi Center for Economic Research. Among the students, English version textbooks are popular for high standard of their case studies, statistical analysis, and beautiful graphs.

However, studying entirely from English textbooks is still at the experimental stage. Students find it expensive to buy such textbooks. On average, the price of an imported book is five times that of a domestically published one. Also it takes students time to get used to the terms and expressions. Many take electronic dictionaries to class with them when using such textbooks for the first time.

( 08/30/2001)