If you are looking for a scholarship to study Chinese then I have good news and bad news. The good news is that there are some scholarships, the bad news is that they are not that easy to find, and apply to, for the Chinese language programs.
About Scholarships in China
China is giving thousands of scholarships each year to international students and many international students are interested in scholarships in China.
There are a lot of opportunities to study in China with a scholarship. You can read more about our general guide and the different types of scholarships here. We have helped thousands of students apply to Chinese universities and we work closely with universities in China.
We are going to start with the hardest to apply to the easiest.
1 Semester or 1 Year Scholarship in Chinese Language
How easy to apply? Quite hard
Many students want to come to study in China for 1 semester or 1 year and to get a scholarship. This is one of the more difficult scholarships to apply for.
To start with, the total tuition for a Chinese language program is usually not too high (around 7,000 RMB (1,000 USD per semester). The real cost to the university is much higher, so these programs are already subsidised to encourage more student to study Chinese.
Most students do study this program on a self-paid basis.
How to apply? You can apply for the CSC Scholarship in 279 universities. You would normally need to apply through the embassy in your home country. The full instructions for that is here.
Degree Program in Chinese with Foundation Program
How easy to apply? Much easier for many students
Sometimes there is a saying “If you think bigger, then things are easier”
If you would like to study a whole degree in Chinese, then it is much easier to get a scholarship to study Chinese. Often you can apply for a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, and you can get a full scholarship for the degree, and free 1 or 2 year Chinese foundation program.
This is because China is looking to attract more international students, and they would prefer it if they can speak great Chinese and study in Chinese (instead of English). After all, Chinese is the language of China!
There are 279 universities with such a scholarship to study in Chinese, and the instructions for applying are here.
Tips to Increase Your Chances with the Scholarship
We have helped lots of students apply for scholarships. The biggest tips we would give to increase your chances for all of these are:
1) Make sure you apply early!
Often the students who apply earlier have the highest chances of getting accepted
2) Demonstrate your commitment to China and learning Chinese.
When you apply, make sure you demonstrate that you are serious about learning Chinese and coming to China which leads to my next point.
3) Learn Chinese before
Make sure you have some Chinese level before. Taking an HSK exam would increase your chances, and the higher your Chinese level the better – some is better than none. There are some online certificate programs you can take online before coming to China. If you can send that certificate with your application it will greatly improve your chances.
4) Make sure you prepare your application documents properly.
Often they will receive so many applications for scholarships, and its often quite hard to reply to give feedback if a student hasn’t submitted documents correctly. Make sure you prepare your documents properly when you apply according to the requirements.
If you are not accepted for the scholarship, normally you will not hear back the reason. You only have once chance, so make it count. If you can also go to the embassy with your documents to check in person it can also be an advantage.
We have some more information about how to prepare documents here.
Articles about Scholarships
You can read more information about scholarships below
Search Scholarships
You can search for scholarships for Chinese language here.
- Introducing University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) - April 1, 2021
- 5 Frequently Asked Questions About Scholarships in China - March 31, 2021
- Aerial Campus View of Southwest Jiaotong University - March 30, 2021