Fulbright China Guide

Arrival and Settling In at Your Host University

The Fall Orientation and Spring Orientation/Mid-Year Conference

The in-country orientation is a requirement of the Fulbright grant, no matter where in China the Lecturer is finally assigned. Hotel accommodation will be paid for all Lecturers and their accompanying family members for the nights corresponding to the orientation.  Extra nights before or after the orientation are at the personal expense of the Lecturer.  University representatives are expected to meet their Lecturers during the orientation, help arrange their transportation, and escort them to their host city.

Onward Travel in China

For Lecturers traveling onward from Beijing to other cities after the orientation, their host university foreign affairs office representative (invited to attend the orientation) will assist Lecturers to make onward flight reservations and purchase air tickets after their arrival in Beijing.  Lecturers are advised NOT to buy Chinese domestic air tickets while still in the United States.  Although they can be obtained, experience has shown that tickets booked outside China are not entered in the domestic reservation system and may not be honored.  Lecturers should wait until they arrive in China to purchase their onward tickets, with the assistance of their host university representatives.  The Fulbright grant includes funds for this trip under “Grantee Travel/Relocation.” 
       
Note that the weight and/or size limitations for baggage on domestic carriers is often more restricted than on international flights.

Working with Your Host University

Terms of Assignment  - The Placement Form

To help clarify objectives, each host university submits a placement form for each Fulbright Lecturer, indicating the dates for which a placement is offered, the courses the Fulbright Lecturer is requested to teach, class sizes and composition, the level of administrative support the university can provide, and the individuals whom the Lecturer may contact to further discuss preparations for the assignment.  The placement form reflects the input of both the academic department appropriate to the Fulbright Lecturer and the foreign affairs office.  Exact matches between the expertise that a Lecturer offers and the needs of Chinese universities are not always possible.  Lecturers and their host university colleagues will benefit from advance communication about what the university expects and what the Lecturer can offer.  Lecturers should confirm with their hosts the details outlined on the placement form as soon as possible after they accept their placement.  If direct contact is difficult, the Educational Exchanges staff at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing can relay messages.

The Educational Exchanges staff stresses to universities that the information provided on the form, as well as in subsequent communication between the university and the Lecturer, should be considered in a contractual manner, with changes to be mutually agreed between the two parties.  The Educational Exchanges staff is always available to consult with Lecturers on the status of their negotiations with universities.

Many Lecturers encounter some deviation from what the placement form indicates after they arrive.   Perhaps the department wants the Lecturer to teach an additional class, to accommodate more students than indicated on the placement form, or to shift the focus of the course.  Such "surprises" result from turnovers of staff in university departments as well as the fluid nature of Chinese university planning, and are quite normal from the university's point of view.  Although universities are urged to stick to the commitments they make on the placement form, Lecturers are also encouraged to be flexible and innovative in discussing ways to resolve differing expectations.  Once terms are agreed, both the university and the Lecturer should make changes only after consulting with each other.  Lecturers are urged to consult with the Educational Exchanges staff if they feel that their interests and those of their host university are not coming together or if it appears that their university is making significant modifications to the placement form.

If Lecturers are asked to sign any kind of contract by the host university, they should politely decline and refer the document to the Educational Exchanges staff at the U.S. Embassy.  Such written agreements are a matter of discussion between the Embassy and the Ministry of Education.  Difficult questions on the terms of Fulbright Lecturerships also should be referred to the Educational Exchanges staff.

If Lecturers leave China for any length of time, they should notify their universities' foreign affairs offices and the Educational Exchanges staff of the U.S. Embassy.  Under the terms of their grants, Lecturers who are away from China for longer than two weeks at any one time are subject to losing part of one month’s stipend.

University Contacts- the “waiban,” Host Department, Chinese faculty and students

Fulbright Lecturers have two principal contacts at their "work unit" (danwei), their host university.   One is the department representative, for academic matters.  The other is the foreign affairs office (waiban) that is responsible for administrative matters related to foreign professors, researchers, and students (in some cases, a departmental ‘foreign affairs assistant’ might be designated to attend to the tasks normally assigned to the foreign affairs office).  The administrative contact person deals with questions concerning foreigner's residence permits (waiguoren juliuzheng), visas, housing, communications, and travel arrangements.  The efficiency and resources of each university’s foreign affairs office varies greatly.  Some foreign affairs offices are efficient, well staffed and very helpful.  Others are overburdened and unable to commit time or resources to Lecturers' problems.  Besides providing support and services for foreigners, the foreign affairs office can assist in mediating between Lecturers and university staff who are less acquainted with foreigners.  This mediation can be flexible or strict, enhancing relationships or encouraging distance. 

In practice, Chinese universities face a variety of obstacles which affect the ability of visiting Lecturers to contribute optimally to an American Studies program and to work closely with Chinese colleagues.  Most American Studies faculties in China complain they are short-staffed.  Many Chinese faculty members who have gone abroad to earn advanced degrees (including most of the Chinese Ph.D. candidates sponsored under the Fulbright program in the 1980's) have not returned to their home institutions.  Stagnant faculty salaries, especially in the humanities and social sciences, push many faculty members to tutor or consult for extra income, sometimes at the expense of their primary job.  Others, particularly young faculty, look to the burgeoning market economy for jobs outside academia.  Chinese professors must adjust to the lack of administrative support (transportation, photocopiers, and library staff) during this transitional period as departmental budgets shrink and universities are forced to become economically self-sufficient.  The urge to use Lecturers to help fill critical staffing gaps is strong.  In many cases, Chinese faculty are too busy or otherwise hesitate to approach visiting American Lecturers.  Lecturers must be prepared to balance ideals against realities and to assess what is possible to achieve during their exchange program. 

For other types of support from locating the favored restaurants on campus to getting in touch with all of your students, each of your classes should have a class monitor.  This prize pupil, nominated by his/her peers, will be able to assist with classroom-related needs, as well as some miscellaneous tasks.

Course Load

Universities are asked to assign Fulbright Lecturers no more than two course preparations per semester and no more than eight hours a week of lecturing.  Teaching more than that limits the amount of time Lecturers can devote to class preparations, which most Lecturers find vital in an environment different from that in the U.S.  Class sizes vary from seminars with ten students to lecture courses with forty or more. As a general rule, Lecturers should not be expected to teach only undergraduate classes.  If by mutual consent, Lecturers do teach undergraduate courses and there are more than 30 students in that course, the Lecturers will be provided an assistant to help with such things as translation, grading exams or other responsibilities as necessary for the course.  Generally, class size should not exceed 50 students.

Activities outside of the teaching load (e.g., mentoring graduate students, developing curriculum, academic research projects) in which a university seeks Lecturers' participation should be discussed in advance to allow the Lecturer adequate time to arrange a schedule.  While such activities are encouraged, they may not be required of the Lecturers without their concurrence.

In order to ensure that Lecturers have ample time to prepare for their teaching assignments, once the universities and the Lecturers have accepted the placements, the respective parties should contact each other directly to arrange a teaching schedule and allow adequate time to prepare a syllabus and to purchase and ship course materials.  Once Lecturers arrive on campus, they should meet with their academic departments to confirm the teaching plan and syllabus.  Occasionally, last minute changes are made to the schedule and course selection.

Most every campus to which Lecturers are now assigned has had experience with Fulbright Lecturers, and it is helpful to be aware of its history.  This is best accomplished by reading the section on teaching experience in the reports of previous Lecturers at Lecturers’ universities. 

U.S. Fulbright Lecturer vs. “Foreign Expert”

“Foreign experts” or “foreign teachers,” very common on Chinese university campuses, are generally paid employees of the Chinese university or institution.  Their contractual commitments concerning teaching load - often eight to twelve contact hours per week -- are usually much heavier than those recommended for Lecturers.  At most universities, foreign experts generally teach language courses, whereas U.S. Fulbright Lecturers are seasoned, highly qualified university professors who have been chosen to participate in a U.S. government funded bilateral educational exchange program – with cultural exchange as its goal.  Because their salaries are considerably lower than those of Fulbright Lecturers, foreign experts may be given certain privileges as part of their compensation package, such as subsidized air and train ticket prices and paid leave, compensation which is not always extended to Lecturers. 

Support for In-Country Travel 

The primary goal of the Fulbright Guest Lecture Program is to share the considerable knowledge and experience of U.S. Lecturers with universities that do not host Lecturers for semester or full-year programs. As a way of enriching the Fulbright experience in China, Lecturers are encouraged to arrange guest speaking engagements at selected institutions throughout China which have American Studies programs or offer advanced curriculum on aspects of the United States. 
 
The Fulbright Guest Lecture Program budget funds inter-city travel and modest daily allowances; inviting institutions are expected to provide lodging and facilitative assistance. To qualify for funding, Lecturers’invitations must be approved ahead of time by the Educational Exchanges staff. This is to ensure that Lecturers give a minimum of two presentations at a university, or one presentation at two universities in the same city.  Detailed guidelines and a list of pre-approved participating institutions who are familiar with the program will be distributed at the Beijing orientation.

While participation in the Guest Lecture Program is encouraged, the Lecturers’primary responsibility remains to their host university.  Host universities should provide necessary assistance to their Lecturers to participate in this program so long as participation does not disrupt class schedules more than twice in one semester.  Lecturers are expected to secure the clearance of their academic department if their travel will require rearranging class schedules, and they must inform their university's foreign affairs office when they will be away from campus.  

Lecturers should forward to the Fulbright office three to five lecture topics they wish to have listed in the Fulbright Guest Lecture Directory, which will be distributed to participating institutions at the beginning of each academic term.  Lecturers should also plan to be proactive about soliciting university invitations.  The host university may also provide assistance with making initial contact.