IFSA - STUDY IN SHANGHAI
  Shanghai, China

WHY STUDY IN SHANGHAI?
Shanghai has grown exponentially in the past hundred years—from an early trading port to a massive international metropolis with a population of 24 million. Known for its fast-paced businesses and cosmopolitan vibe, the city is intricately connected with the global flows of commodities and people. It also represents the enormous environmental, economic, and social challenges that are mirrored across China and around the world. Find your home in a vibrant, student-friendly neighborhood, with our program center just around the corner from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Choose your own ideal academic mix in this forward-looking city, where iconic skyscrapers—and the people in them—are always reaching for record heights. Shanghai, one of the world’s most populated cities, is a major hub for finance, technology, research, manufacturing, and transport. That makes this uber-populated city one inspiring place to explore a potential career, dig into a field of study, and of course, step into a culture with ancient roots on the other side of the planet. 

Your academic options are as varied as the city’s fabled architecture, which spans the spectrum from Buddhist temples to art deco hotels and theatres to ultra-modern Shanghai Tower and Pearl Tower. Beyond the classroom, options for field excursions, internships, language partners, and more make it easy to see theory come to life, learn by doing, and get to know the people of Shanghai. 

Our Study in Shanghai offerings are design for students from zero to advanced Chinese language experience. Build your own curriculum with any combination of language and IFSA elective classes, or choose one of the curated Study in Shanghai academic tracks with focuses on international business, social sciences, Chinese language, or public health.

Whether you build your own curriculum or enroll in an academic track, choose four to five IFSA classes for a total of 15-16 U.S. semester credit hours. Semester credits hours for language classes vary, but IFSA elective classes are all worth 3 U.S. semester credit hours each.

ACADEMIC TRACK OPTIONS
IFSA Study in Shanghai academic tracks are developed with a focus around a central academic discipline. Each track includes a specific collection of classes, including a core class or required class, and may include different language prerequisites.

• The IFSA Study in Shanghai: International Business academic track offers unparalleled opportunities to examine China’s rapidly changing business environment and the global networks in which it plays an increasingly strategic role.
• The IFSA Study in Shanghai: Social Sciences academic track examines the history of Shanghai, its process of rapid urbanization, and China’s interface with the West in this dynamic Asian center.
• The IFSA Study in Shanghai: Intensive Chinese Language academic track offers 20 hours per week of Chinese language instruction for students who wish to focus on improving their Chinese language skills. To enroll, students must have completed two semesters of prior Chinese language study.
• The IFSA Study in Shanghai: Public Health academic track invites you to examine how public health policy is shaped by social, economic, and political currents and ultimately put into practice in the world’s most populous country.

NON-TRACK OPTION
Design your own curriculum based on your own interests and degree requirement with the non-track Study in Shanghai option. Choose four to five classes from the following language and electives options for a total of 15-16 U.S. semester credit hours.

ELECTIVE CLASSES
Customize your semester based on your personal interests and degree requirements, choosing from these electives. All elective classes are taught in English.

• China: Economic Giant
• China as a Global Market
• City and Environment
• Contemporary Chinese Politics: State, Party, People
• Environmental Health
• Exploring Community & Culture in a Global Context 
• International Internship Seminar
• International Money and Finance
• International Trade: A Chinese Perspective
• Managing Enterprises in China
• Nutrition, Food Safety and Security
• Operations and Supply Chain Management
• Public Health Policy and Practice in China
• Sino-U.S. Relations: Superpower and Realignment
• Survey of Art in China
• Traditional Chinese Medicine

LANGUAGE CLASSES
Developing skills in a foreign language can profoundly impact your life personally and professionally. Though language study (other than Essential Chinese) is not required, students frequently report their Chinese language class as one of their favorites and the one they applied most outside of the classroom.

Essential Chinese
If you’ve never studied Chinese before, and you decide not to take an elective language class, you’ll take this introductory seminar to contemporary Chinese language and culture taught intensively during the first weeks of the program. (1 U.S. semester credit hour)

Chinese Language
No prior language study is required. A placement exam during on-site orientation determines each student’s appropriate language level. (6 U.S. semester credit hours)

• Beginning Chinese I
• Beginning Chinese II
• Intermediate Chinese I
• Intermediate Chinese II
• Advanced Chinese I
• Advanced Chinese II
• Advanced Chinese III
• Advanced Chinese IV
• Advanced Readings in Chinese
• Business Chinese

CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES & EXCURSIONS
Program activities are designed to enhance your intercultural competence by developing your understanding of the local culture and people. Activities are optional, but they are included in your total program fee. Activities vary each term based on availability, but may include:

• City-as-Text
• Art Tour of West Bund Cultural Corridor
• Visit to Manufacturing Plant
• Food and Local Culture
• Tai Chi and Calligraphy

IFSA excursions are included in your total program fee and though these are optional, most students choose to participate. They vary each term based on availability, but excursions may include:

• Water Town Trip
• Local Community Visit

    WHAT’S INCLUDED IN MY IFSA PROGRAM?

• Academic Support
• Administrative Fees and Applications Fees
• Airport Pickup
• Activities and Excursions (including transportation and meals)
• Guaranteed Housing
• International Medical Insurance
• Internet Access in Housing
• Internship, Directed Research, and Volunteer Opportunities (on many programs)
• Meals (on some programs)
• Official Transcript with U.S. Credit Translation
• On-site Orientation
• On-site Staff Support (including in-person meetings and emergencies)
• Pre-arrival Advising
• Tuition

  WE’RE HERE FOR YOU