The Registration Final Chaper

After accomplishing half of your registration process, you need to do these things before you can get your student card. 

• For students who have prior knowledge in Mandarin, you need to take an assessment test after the accomplishing the paper works. The Room number where you should go to take the exam and the date/time will be indicated in your schedule. The assessment result will actually depend on you. Even if you have background in Mandarin, and your results state that you can go to upper levels, you may still opt to enrol in the lower levels. In fact, you can transfer to higher- or lower-level class within the first two weeks of the semester.
• Medical Exam
• Visa Extension/Application forResidence Permit
• Orientation
• Claiming of Student Card

Here is what the schedule of activities looks like:

Even if some of these activities are not yet completed, you will already be issued your class schedule and you may already attend your class. 

The Registration Chapter 2, Registration 0.5

The whole registration process is a lengthy process! But, this part, you can accomplish in just one day.

So after knowing the buildings, the first step is to get a dorm. If you are staying outside the University you may skip this and just go to the next step. Caveat, be sure to have your “official proof of lodging (housing certificate) either by the authority of the hotel/guest house you live in or by the local police station if you live in a private-owned house/ apartment.”  (Registration for self-supporting, BLCU website)

Getting a dorm

1. Go to Student Housing Services Center located between Dorm Building 1 and 2.

2. Present your Admission Letter and JW201/202

If you’re a scholarship student, you have a pre-assigned dorm; Dorm9 for girls and Dorm1 for boys.*

3. If you have preferred dorm, you have to inform the staffs. The staffs will check which dorms can accommodate you. You need to settle the full amount of your stay.  If you have booked a dorm in advance, you can go directly to the dorm.

4. You will be instructed as to which dorm to go and once you are in the dormitory, you will be asked for passport. The dorm staff will issue a Temporary Residence Permit once all documentation and payments are completed. Make a copy of the Temporary Residence Permit!

Your College’s Office, Tuition Payment, and Insurance

There are different colleges in BLCU but almost all offices are located in ground floor of Main Building. You really have the option to go here first or to get dorm first. What will you do here?

-   You again need your admission documents and passports. Give your documents to the personnel there and they will give you forms to fill up and a checklist of what documents you need. They will also give you a free M-zone SIM card and student handbook.

-    Why do you need to get a dorm first? The Dorm will give you your Temporary Residence Permit. It is one of the items in the required documents list. So if you have the Temporary Residence Permit from your dorm, you do not need to go to the dorm and back to the office.

-      They will issue you tuition fee voucher and you need to pay your tuition. To quote from the BLCU website,

You need to go to ICBC (Room 120, Office Buildin, the building with white highlight in the campus map) or finance office (Room 108, Office Building) to pay the tuition and buy medical insurance on the second floor of Run Run Shaw Teaching Building (the building with green highlight in the campus map). Below are means of payment:

If you pay in cash, or traveler’s check, pay at the ICBC (Industry and Commercial Bank of China, Room 120, Office Building) and then exchange for the invoice in the Finance Office (Room 108, Office Building).

If you pay by international VISA Card, Master Card, American Express Card (the bank will charge 3% commission, if your card is not applied in China), you may pay directly in the Finance Office (Room 108, Office Building).

-          If you’re a self-supporting student, you need to make sure you have all of these:

o   Admission Notice

o   JW202

o   Receipt of tuition from bank or Finance Office

o   Insurance receipt/card

o   Passport

o   Copy of Passport

o   Copy of your Visa

o   Copy of Registration Form of Temporary Residence

o   At least 5pieces 3.5cmx4.5cm ID picture in white or blue background

o   Accomplished registration form for international students

-          If you’re a scholarship student, you need these:

o   Admission Notice

o   CSC scholarship notice

o   JW201

o   Passport

o   Copy of Passport

o   Copy of your Visa

o   Copy of Registration Form of Temporary Residence

o   At least 5pieces 3.5cmx4.5cm ID picture in white or blue background

o   Accomplished registration form for international students

Submit these documents to the College Office and they will issue you a schedule of activities that you need to accomplish before you are issued your Student Card. For scholarship students, you will be given a slip of paper which needs to be signed by the officer in the Room2, 2^nd Floor of Run Run Shaw Building. Once this paper is signed by the officer, you can now go to the Accounting and Finance Office (Rm107 of white highlight in the map) to collect your one-time settlement assistance and monthly allowance.

If your papers were signed after the 15^th of the month, you will only receive half of the monthly allowance. Otherwise, you will receive the whole monthly allowance.

*Side Bar

My male classmates were placed in Dorm 4. They were graduate school (Master program) scholarship students who needed one-year language training before entering graduate school proper). According to them, they didn’t pay any additional fees to get in Dorm4. They were just assigned to Dorm4 . Thus, my theory is graduate school scholarship students gets in Dorm4 and language training scholarship students goes to either Dorm1 or Dorm9. 

The Registration Chapter 1, The Buildings

Before the first step, I think it would make your life faster if you familiarize yourself with the buildings that you will be going to.

First of all, there are many entrances to the University. If you are staying at Xijiao Hotel, the nearest entrance is the XiNan (West-South) Gate, then Xi (West) Gate. Do not be deceived by the map. There is no direct road from Xijiao Hotel going to Xi (West) Gate. More info on Xijiao Hotel in this page.

The “main” entrance is the East Gate located at Xueyuan Road. This is where you can see the popular picture of the school. The building in the picture below is the Main Building. In the map, it is highlighted by the red square. The Main Building has 3 sections, the North, the South, and the Main section. The main section is the one in the picture below.  

Taken from the Student Handboook Front Cover

The South building is an on building connected to the Main building. Across the South building is the Run Run Shaw Teaching Building (highlighted with green). You know you are near the Run Run Shaw Building when you see the big signage of Alliance Francaise, a big AF. Run Run Shaw Building is a 2-storey building beside AF and across South building. Another landmark is an ATM of Agricultural Bank of China. It is also near China Unicom shop. See picture of Run Run Shaw Building below.

The one highlighted in yellow near the South Gate is not a building, although is it located between two tall buildings. This is the Student Housing Services. It is located between dormitory 1 and 2. It is in the ground floor of between the two buildings. From Run Run Shaw, you just need to walk south to reach Student Housing Services.

Since we are talking about student housing, Dormitory Building 4 (highlighted orange near Student Housing Services), 6, 7 ,8, and 9 (highlighted blue near the basketball and tennis courts) are available for foreign students. Other dormitories are for local students. The Conference Center (highlighted pink) is also available for foreign students. It is located at the back of the Library.

Lastly, the one highlighted in white is where the bank (ICBC) and Accounting and Finance Office are located (see below for one of the entrances).

This is only one side of the building

Now, you’re familiar with the buildings, you need to remember to bring the following during registration

• Admission Letter
• JW201/JW202 (if you do not have the original JW form, go to Run Run Shaw 2F, Rm2 first to get the original. Usually, scholarship students will not have the original copy)
• Receipt of tuition ( not needed for scholarship students)
• Insurance (not needed for scholarship students)
• Scholarship acceptance (if applicable)
• 10 pieces 3.5cmx4.5cm picture in white or blue background (5 for the College office, 1 for Visa Extension, 1 for physical exam)
• Passport
• Copy of Visa (X, F, or tourist)
• Copy of registration form of temporary residence (the dorm will issue this)
• Registration of application for international students (you can get this from your college’s office and you need to complete the form)

Be prepared to have copies of every document that you have.

To summarize the buildings and color markings/box highlight

Blue- Dorm6,7,8, and 9

Pink- Conference Center

Orange-Dorm4

White- ICBC, Accounting and Finance Office

Red- Main Building

Neon Green- Run Run Shaw Building

Yellow- Housing Services Center

The Registration Process, Preface

I registered late for the Fall Semester of 2011-2012 (September). The registration period was from August 31- September 4 (for long-term students). I was scared because it was written in the Admission Notice that failure to register within the given period will automatically means forfeiture of your admission (and in my case, as well as the scholarship), unless you were granted the permission to register late.

Side bar

I emailed BLCU regarding my situation explaining that I will late and I do not want to give up my admission and scholarship. My email was about 2 paragraphs long and after few days they replied with “No problem”. That was it. “No problem”. I replied again and asked who should I look for when I arrive and they gave me a phone number. I tried to call the BLCU office numbers, the one given in the email and the one in their website for Long-term students.  Unfortunately, the person who answered my call does not speak English. Strike one!  This made me wonder if the person who replied to my email understood what my email said. Thus, I sent another email and again I got a one-sentence reply. I was a bit sceptical about the email replies because there was no particular person owning the replies and I am worried that they might deny the email correspondences once I arrive here. So, I asked my uncle to call BLCU. He can speak perfect Mandarin. And he said the respond he got was a bit vague. If he will translate it in English, “she can, but I (the person from BLCU) am not saying yes”. Strike two! This made me send another email to BLCU. This time, I ask my uncle to write a Chinese email.  I got a short reply again saying “No problem” in Chinese. I printed the Chinese email and brought it with me during the registration. This was my only proof that they allowed me to register late. But this letter will be useless in the registration process.

BLCU is lenient in enrolment. I think as long as you can pay, they will accept you. I have classmates who came in to class around October already.  So being a week late for the registration is not a big deal.  I arrived in Beijing on September 9; classes have already begun on September 5 for the long-term students and September 8 for the intensive classes. I arrived Friday afternoon and the coming Monday (September12) was the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was a holiday. To make my point shorter, I only have about 5 hours to finish my registration process. Now, I know you are more interested in the registration process than my story, so here are the steps.

The Visa............Extension

DON’T NOT FORGET TO EXTEND YOUR VISA!

Before you extend you visa you need to complete your Physical Exam first. Go here to for Physical Exam process. Once you claim the Health Certificate in your College Office, they will issue you an “order slip” that you need to present to visa extension assistance “office”. Your schedule activity list given by the College Office will tell you when to get your Health Certificate.

You can arrive here Beijing with any type of visa, but the most appropriate visa for students are X  (for more than six months stay) and F (less than six month stay). Both X and F are student visas. There are some students who have tourist visa though. There is no issue about what visa you have when you arrive in China. The most important thing is to EXTEND YOUR VISA! Visa X and F are single entry visas and are only valid within 30 days from the date of your arrival in China.

BLCU provides visa extension assistance through a private travel agency. However, this service is only available during the registration week up to few weeks after the start of semester. You can avail this service or you can process your visa extension by yourself. If you want to process avail their service, the visa extension assistance “office” is located at the 2^nd Floor (no room, just the open area) of the Run Run Shaw Building.

What do you need for visa extension?

Passport

Original JW201/JW202

Original Temporary Residence Form

Original Admission Notice

Original Health Certificate

1pc. ID photo in white or blue background.

RMB460 (RMB400 is the cost of the Foreign Residence Permit and RMB60 for the services of the travel agency)

Note that you need all original documents and these documents, except for the passport, will no longer be returned to you. I suggest you make copies of these documents before submitting to the travel agency. In addition, make copy of your passport’s important information because your passport will not be returned to until after 5-10 working days.

Once you have all of these documents, all you have to do is line-up, pay, and get your receipt. In your receipt will be the schedule as to when you can get your passport back. Just, go back to the “office” on the scheduled date and claim your passport with the extended visa/foreign residence permit. This visa is a multiple-entry visa and is valid on the date indicated in your visa.

After getting your passport with extended visa, go back to the College Office so they can update their records. Also inform your dorm personnel for them to update their records too.

Be mindful that every time you change any details especially residence details, you need to go the police station and update your information. You can ask your College Office for more information.

Side bar-- Why is it important to extend your visa properly?

One of my classmates failed to process his visa extension properly. When he arrived in China on September 2011, his first choice of city was not Beijing. I cannot remember which city in China, but it was Beijing. He was able to extend his visa there. But around October 2011, he decided to transfer to Beijing. He failed to change is residence address for his residence permit. Come November 2011, we was called upon by the Police Station’s Foreign Residence Department and was asked to pay a fine of RMB50,000 for failure to change his residence information. They negotiated and it was brought down to RMB15,000. The police station personnel told him his only options were to pay the fine or go back to his home country and forever be banned from entering China again. He asked for the BLCU office’s help, but they were not helpful at all. The Office just told him, “No problem. Just pay.” With further negotiation his fine was reduced to RMB5,000. 

You do not want this to happen to you so do not forget to extend your visa. :)

The Scholarship Allowance

Chinese government scholarship students (CSC scholarship students) receive different amount.

·               Undergraduate student and language student: 1400 Yuan (RMB);

·               Master candidate and ordinary student of advanced study: 1,700 Yuan (RMB);

·               PhD candidate and senior student of advanced study: 2,000 Yuan (RMB).

Your first monthly allowance will be given to you in cash during the registration process. But the succeeding monthly allowance will be deposited to your ICBC account. Usually the allowance is available by the 30th of the month or first few days of the following month. So you just have to constantly check with the ATM machine from time to time.

Few weeks after the start of the class, before the end of current month, the Office responsible for scholarship students (Rm2, 2^nd floor of Run Run Shaw Building) will announce a schedule for ICBC allowance card application. Usually, it runs for 2 consecutive days. It’s better if you get your allowance card or ICBC ATM card during the scheduled period because you will freak out if you don’t.

My experience

The schedule of the ICBC card application was September 21 and 22. However, I was not able to read the notice posted in the bulletin board of my College Office. On September 23, I went to my College Office to ask if I can still transfer class. By accident, I read about the schedule of ICBC card application for scholarship students. The personnel in my College told me to go to Run Run Shaw Rm2, 2^nd Floor, as this is the office responsible for scholarship concerns.

I went there, I asked the officer there (I don’t know her name but she is also the person who will sign your paper for the release of your settlement allowance and first month allowance. She speaks perfect English however she is not very helpful and accommodating). I told her I was not able to process my ICBC card during the scheduled time and asked her what I should do. I told her I was not aware of the announcement. She told me that was impossible because they posted it in the college offices and in dorms and even sent a text message for everyone. Well, the college office is far from my classroom and dorm and students only go there if they need something. Second, I checked my dorm announcement board, and there was no announcement about this. Lastly, I didn’t receive any message. I told her I didn’t receive any messages.

She told me, “Well then, you can apply for ICBC card next month and you won’t receive your allowance for next month. Probably after next month you can have your allowance.” I was stunned when she told me that. I panicked. I told her that I do not have money and I am only relying on the allowance. She said, “It’s impossible you do not have money. You were given your settlement allowance.” I explained to her that I needed to pay the physical exam (400RMB), the visa extension (460RMB), deposit for dorm room key (50RMB), student card (50RMB). The settlement allowance is only 1500RMB.

She suggested I can make the cut-off for processing of the October allowance if I open an account with ICBC within the week (it was already Friday then) but I need my passport; copies are not allowed. Earlier that day, I processed my visa extension and submitted by passport to the travel agency. She said, “There’s nothing we can do. You will just have to wait and next month you won’t have allowance.” That’s how “un-accommodating” she is. She doesn’t care whether you starve because you don’t have your monthly allowance.

With desperation, I went to the visa extension office and asked if I can borrow my passport. Luckily, they haven’t transported the passports yet and they were kind enough to let me borrow my passport. Thus, I went to the ICBC and opened an account, got my ATM card, and went back to Rm2, 2^nd Floor of Run Run Shaw Building. I handed a copy of my account registration and I got my October allowance on time. The Officer was surprised that I was able to borrow my passport from the visa extension office. :)


In case you will experience my experience, the ICBC (the bank) is located in the ground floor of the building beside the library. Here's a map (the one with the white, square highlight):