Engineering university in Japanese

Hello, I am planning to go on a student exchange to Kyoto University for my undergraduate engineering degree for one semester. My current level of Japanese is between JLPT lvl 2 and 3... can anyone tell me if that's enough to survive through my classes? I'm Chinese so I can understand the kanji when I look at them, which kind of helps for kanji-ladden academic documents ^_~

I've also heard that Japan unis are easy - does that still hold true for engineering?

And has anyone attended Kyodai? Any comment/input? :D

Thanks!
-chyuki

University level would usually require level 1 or at least level 2.

As you know Japanese language consists more then just Kanji and If you don't know Kana (hiragana and katakana) you better start learning them, they aren't too difficult and you should nail it down after studying them a bit.

Almost all the serious classes are taught in Japanese and you can't understand the contents unless you are fluent in Japanese. If you are not good enough in Japanese, then you can only enjoy classes specifically offered for foreign students, like Japanese Language or Japanese culture.

If you mean getting credits by surviving the class, then it might be possible if you can read exam questions. Of course, you must know the subject well enough to compete with others.

I'm not sure if it is easier to get credits in Japan. I found no significat difference between Japan and the U.S. in this respect. Indeed, just getting credits is absurdly easy everywhere if you don't care grade, isn't it?

A lot of the grammar is hidden within the hiragana, if you have never studied the grammar, the grammar who make any sense at all.

With regards to JP uni exchange, you have to realise that JP uni is very slack.

So you should use it more of a place to experience JP culture/living abroad, learning JP, than actually learning eng-related stuff.

Its more of a place to socialize than to actually learn stuff. Once you actually pass the entrace exam and actually get IN, its smooth sailing from there on.

The learning stuff part comes when a company hires the new grad and then its him thru their own company training program.