The Bilateral Program is a scholarship program offered by the Chinese government for international students. It includes full or partial scholarships established by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in accordance with educational exchange agreements or consensus between the Chinese government and governments of other countries, institutions, universities, or international organizations.
The scholarship supports undergraduate students, graduate students, general scholars, and senior scholars. Undergraduate scholarship recipients must register for Chinese-taught credit courses, while graduate and non-degree scholarship students can register for either the Chinese-taught program or the English-taught program, if applicable. The scholarship covers both major study and Chinese language (preparatory study).
The eligibility criteria for the scholarship are:
1.Applicants must be a citizen of a country other than the People’s Republic of China, and be in good health.
2.The requirements for applicants’ degree and age are as follows:
3.Applicants must be a high school graduate under the age of 25 when applying for the undergraduate programs.
4.Applicants must be a bachelor’s degree holder under the age of 35 when applying for the master’s programs.
5.Applicants must be a master’s degree holder under the age of 40 when applying for the doctoral programs.
6.Applicants must be under the age of 45 and have a high school diploma (or higher) when applying for the general scholar programs.
7.Applicants must be a master’s degree holder or an associate professor (or above) under the age of 50 when applying for the senior scholar programs.
To apply for the scholarship, applicants must follow the following procedure:
1.Apply to the dispatching authorities for overseas study of your home country for the Chinese Government Scholarship (CGS) opportunity.
2.Apply to your target university for the Pre-admission Letter once recommended by the dispatching authorities as an eligible candidate.
3.Complete the online application procedure at the CGS Information Management System for International Students, submit online the completed Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship, and print a hard copy. You should consult the dispatching authorities for overseas study of your home country for Instructions of CGS Information Management System for International Students and Agency Number.
4.Submit all of your application documents to the dispatching authorities of your home country before the deadline.
The application documents that need to be submitted include the Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship, notarized highest diploma, academic transcripts, a study plan or research proposal, two recommendation letters, a CD of your own works (only required for arts students), valid documents of your legal guardians in China (only required for applicants under the age of 18), Foreigner Physical Examination Form (photocopy), the copy of Pre-admission Letter from designated Chinese university (if available), and the copy of HSK Certificate (if available). All documents should be bound together on the top left corner in the order specified and should be submitted in duplicate.
Only applications of recommended candidates from dispatching authorities will be considered, and candidates holding a Pre-admission Letter will be placed in the host university, while those without the Pre-admission Letter should accept the scholarship council's placement of university.
