Free dorm rooms help students see country
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FOR nearly 10 years, China’s education authorities have been encouraging college students to spend part of their summer holidays in other parts of the country, doing social work and expanding their experience beyond academics.
But many schools find students are reluctant to take up the challenge because of the out-of-pocket costs.
To address that concern, East China University of Political Science and Law and 17 other schools in China last year initiated what they call the “dorm exchange federation.” This year three schools — Sichuan Normal University, Harbin University of Science and Technology and Shanghai Maritime University — joined the program.
Under the plan, students from member schools get free dorm rooms when they go out-of-town on social programs. This summer, 133 college students are taking advantage of the program.
“Out-of-town accommodation fees usually account for at least half the costs students have to bear when they undertake social work outside of their home bases,” said Chen Saijin, one of the founders of the federation and director of the Youth League Committee at East China University of Political Science and Law.
In a 2010 survey he published, Chen said he found that universities in China were spending only 20 yuan (US$3.2) per capita to support summer student social work.
At his school, for example, only 400,000 yuan has been allocated for the campus’s 12,000 undergraduates.
“What can a student do?” Chen said. “That amount of money available would only buy a train ticket between Shanghai and Suzhou, while a cheap hotel room there would cost about 200 yuan a day. So our school funds only a limited number of students each year.”
He said students who are willing to participate in out-of-town social work exchanges often have to cut short the time spent elsewhere, and even end up staying in disreputable, cheap accommodation.
Students who want free dorm rooms under the federation initiative first apply to their local youth league committee. If approved, the students then contact the host school to make detailed arrangements. The federation requires that all participating schools buy insurance to cover students living in their dorms.
“More than four million college students took part in social work in about 250,000 teams last year,” Chen said, “If we can help each team reduce 2,000 yuan in costs, we can save them 50 million yuan as a whole each year.”
Earlier this month, Guo Mengya, a sophomore at Zhongyuan University of Technology in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, got a free dorm bed at Shanghai’s East China University of Political Science and Law near the downtown Zhongshan Park area. With six schoolmates, she participated in a program of visits to historical sites of the anti-Japanese war and in school exchanges related to new media operations.
“It helped a lot,” Guo said of the federation program, “because hotel rooms are so expensive in Shanghai. Without that aid, we would not have been able to stay in Shanghai for a week.”
She said she participated in a voluntary teaching program last summer that required her to pay all the costs by herself and she ended up lasting only two days before her money ran out.
“We have been given the chance this summer to learn about history and meet new friends,” she said. “I hope next year I have another chance to live in the dorm of another federation member school.”
Ren Kai, a freshman at the East China University of Political Science and Law, and four classmates spent 10 days in a free dorm at Northwest University of Political Science and Law in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province. While in the city, they conducted a survey about tourist complaints and rights protection.
“We talked with scenic spot management companies and visited the local tourist complaint center,” said Ren. “The free dorm room allowed us to stay longer and make our survey more complete.”
More than 3,000 students from East China University of Political Science and Law took part in social project exchanges this summer, and 133 took advantage of the dorm exchange program.
Chen said it’s a good start but the system needs further development.
“The biggest problem is that we do not have enough members,” he said, “Many students are seeking free dorm rooms in places where we do not have members.”
Chen said some institutions are interested, but unsure about the program.
Shen Xiaodan, deputy director of the Youth League Committee at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told Shanghai Daily that her group is interested in joining.
“We have 5,000 to 6,000 students taking part in social work during the summer break each year, and the majority of them go out of the city,” she said, “If they could get free accommodation, it would really help in saving money and in encouraging more students to participate. But we are waiting to see if the program works well.”
Shen said summer is traditionally used to refurbish dorms ahead of the new school term in September.
“We would have to work out a suitable schedule to accommodate the annual dorm overhaul and the availability of rooms for students from other schools,” she said.
Shen added that Jiao Tong would also need to clarify liability if dorms are damaged or if visiting students are injured or get into trouble during their stay.
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