I have applied for a Chinese government scholarship before. I know how to get a CSC scholarship, so I maybe have the answer you need. To give you a relatively correct answer, I searched for the Chinese government ship 2021 in fear of something different from when I applied several years ago. Luckily, they are almost the same. For your convenience, you can directly link to this webpage for specific information.
Categories of Chinese Government Scholarships
As you know, the Chinese government scholarship or CSC scholarship is set up to sponsor international students to study and conduct research in Chinese universities. And there are over 250 designated Chinese universities to offer a wide variety of academic programs for scholarship recipients of all degrees from all countries.
But the Chinese Government Scholarship is divided into several programs, which are the Bilateral Program, Chinese University Program, EU Program, AUN Program, PIF Program, and WMO Program. Don’t be confused though they are so many. Let me walk you through their differences.
The Bilateral Program
The Bilateral Program includes both full and partial scholarships. But it needs to be consistent with the educational exchange agreements or consensus between the Chinese government and governments of the countries from which the international students come. It covers all international students no matter which program they are studying in and which degree they are achieving.
But it has some requirements for the international students who want to apply, including the instruction language, duration of the scholarship, and application documents.
Requirements
1. Instruction Language
If the international students of the undergraduate or non-degree want to apply to the CSC scholarship, he or she must register for Chinese-taught credit courses and provide a valid HSK certificate of level 3 or above. If the international student fail to offer such a document, then he or she has to take the preparatory course for the Chinese language first and pass the required test before taking the major courses. But don’t worry about the tuition fee and the living cost, if the international student get the scholarship, then the tuition fee and stipend will be included.
If the international student of the graduate program, then he or she can choose the Chinese-taught or English-taught program as like. But the international student still needs to provide language proficiency certificate, like HSK level 4, IELTS, or TOFEL. Apart from that, the scholarship applicant can also get the preparatory course exemption application if he or she is a native English speaker.
2. Duration of the Scholarship
The scholarship can only support undergraduate students including preparatory study or Chinese Language Program of at most 7 years, master’s students of at most 5 years, and doctoral students of 6 years.
3. Application Documents
1. Application Form in Chinese or English
2. Copy of Passport Home Page within the validation
3. Notarized Highest Diploma in Chinese or English
4. Academic Transcripts in Chinese or English
5. A Study Plan or Research Proposal in Chinese or English
6. Recommendation Letters in Chinese or English
7. Works if the applicant for music or fine arts programs
8. Applicant under the age of 18 with a valid document of the legal guardians in China
9. Photocopy of the Foreigner Physical Examination Form in English within 6 months
10. Non-criminal Record Report issued by the local public security authority within 6 months
11. Pre-admission Letter from Chinese Government Scholarship universities
12. Language Qualification Certificate
Chinese University Program
Chinese University Program is a full scholarship for designated Chinese universities. And it can support some certain provincial education offices in specific provinces or autonomous regions to recruit some outstanding international students for graduate studies in China.
This scholarship only provides to the international students of the undergraduates, postgraduate, and doctoral students. And the applicants need to apply to the designated Chinese universities which undertake this program.
And it has some requirements for the international students who want to apply, including the instruction language, duration of the scholarship, and application documents.
Requirements
1. Instruction Language
The international student of the undergraduate program can only register the Chinese-taught program. And if he or she is not an English native speaker and fails to offer a valid HSK certificate of level 3, then he or she must take the preparatory Chinese language course first. If the international student wants to move on to the major studies, he or she must pass the required language test.
The international student of the graduate program can choose between the Chinese-taught and English-taught program. If the international student is not an English native speaker, then he or she needs to offer the valid language proficiency certificate, HSK of level 4 or above for the Chinese-taught program and IELTS or TOFEL for the English-taught program.
2. Duration of the Scholarship
The scholarship can only support undergraduate students including preparatory study or Chinese Language Program of at most 7 years, master’s students of at most 5 years, and doctoral students of 6 years.
3. Application Documents
1. Application Form in Chinese or English
2. Copy of Passport Home Page within the validation
3. Notarized Highest Diploma in Chinese or English
4. Academic Transcripts in Chinese or English
5. A Study Plan or Research Proposal in Chinese or English
6. Recommendation Letters in Chinese or English
7. Works if the applicant for music or fine arts programs
8. Applicant under the age of 18 with a valid document of the legal guardians in China
9. Photocopy of the Foreigner Physical Examination Form in English within 6 months
10. Non-criminal Record Report issued by the local public security authority within 6 months
11. Pre-admission Letter from Chinese Government Scholarship universities
12. Language Qualification Certificate
3、Other Programs
The other programs are provided for specific international students. If you find yourself are eligible for any of them, seize the opportunity and give it a shot for these programs are less competitive compared to the above two programs.
As its name sounds, EU Program is specifically offered for the international students from EU member countries to study and research in China. It aims at promoting mutual understanding between China and EU members.
As its name sounds, AUN Programs is also specifically offered for the ASEAN University Network (AUN). But unlike the EU Program for undergraduate and graduate students, it only supports the international students of the graduate.
As its name sounds, PIF Program is also specifically offered for the international students from Pacific island countries. Like the EU Program, this program is for undergraduate and graduate students.
Different from the above programs for certain countries or regions, WMO Program is for the World Meteorological Organization for international students to study and conduct research in meteorology, hydrology, and water resources supervision and management in China. This program supports both undergraduate and graduate students.
Apart from the eligibility, the application requirements and documents are the same to the above mentioned. You can apply to the Chinese government scholarship by the CSC Information Management System International Students but you have to first apply to the Chinese university for the Chinese University Program.
If you want to know more about the scholarship, you can also consult some third-party platforms. You know some procedures may be troublesome and through them you can also raise your chances of getting the scholarship.
I have to recommend CUCAS, a third-party agency. I promise you can get high-quality service from the page.
At last, I need to remind you to closely follow the current entry policy of China during the COVID-19 era. Wish you good luck in the scholarship application! Remember to like and recommend my article if you find it useful!