With the summer vacation approaching its end, college campuses are growing lively again, with freshmen's arrivals on campuses accompanied by their parents, rushing between school buildings and helping arranging their children's brand-new settlement in universities and colleges.

A freshman, accompanied by her parent, comes to register at Shanghai's Fudan University.

To better help these newcomers quickly adjust to college life, universities in Shanghai have also set up a type of new "parents' schools" in addition to their traditional help services like campus maps and life-guidance brochures. Such parents' schools, which aim to teach parents of fresh students how to better communicate with their children, have drawn great attention, reported the Shanghai-based Dongfang Daily on Monday.

"Your children are about to embark on college life. Are you fully prepared?" Questioning the worried parents of college-bound students, the parents' schools' teachers say they will help them find out the answer.

With an estimated 1700 attendants, the parents' school of Shanghai University provides classes on how to communicate with college students effectively, and how to prevent freshmen from indulging in excessive internet surfing and so on.

In the previous semester, as experiments, Shanghai University has held two classes for parents, both with full attendance, an official with the university's student administration office was quoted as saying.

There has been positive feedback from the parents about such school, the report said.

Besides the lectures given by the university's teachers and well-known educational experts, the parents' school also provided a good opportunity for parents to share their own opinions and experiences on educating their children.

The classes at parents school are scheduled for every weekend, and will last for one academic term.

(CRIENGLISH.com August 27, 2007)