I don't think you will find universities much better! They go all out for the 'pass the exam' techniques, which inlclude, but are not limited to:

Using texts written by others, often found off the internet, or written by friends whose English is better.

Getting other students to take their exam for them (this is amazingly common).

Bribery is rife, though this isn't popular with a lot of the students as most of them are not that well off. My Chinese gf is going through university at the moment, and the fees for the course have been about matched by the techniques that the school has for extracting money, both official: selling books the students have to buy from them at vastly inflated prices, and unofficial: Giving 'presents' to the professors to ensure they get a look in at a decent grade.

I will say though, that Chinese students do study a lot harder than those in the west!

A private school can be the best option if you really want to teach English, as most aren't totally oriented to exam passing. Not to say that a lot of them are any better in other ways of course .

Hey ho.