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 majoringin  computing, 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 billion yuan on English  version textbooksBeijing University doesn’ 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.