The present study examined how undergraduate students from a prestigious Chinese university perceived the teaching and learning of English for general academic purposes (EGAP) reading and writing courses. Analyses of 951 questionnaires revealed that most participants generally (strongly) believed that learning general academic English was closely related to their major study, reported being motivated to learn general academic English, and expected to improve their academic English reading, writing, listening and speaking skills from EGAP courses. The study also showed that they had consensus about the requirements and teaching and learning foci of general academic English in spite of their concerns about academic English, and that students of more demanding and more academic EGAP courses tended to have a better understanding of general academic English. Based on the findings, some suggestions are discussed.