CSC Scholarship - Archives

[marco-polo]

Quoting LuoKai:

Did anyone of the EU applicants already receive any communication from the EU Chinese Mission? I only found out recently I was pre-selected by visiting their website. Does anyone know when they will start notifying people of their university of placement? As they have started to notify in the US it can not take that long anymore right?

I'm on the pre-selected list too and haven't had any direct communications from the CSC either. My guess is that we'll hear the results soon, especially given that our deadline to apply was a month earlier than that for American applicants.

[Jason G]

From what DC said all who have it have found out already. If you haven't been contacted you have not been accepted. I personally hate to know this is true, but according to DC too many people applied this year. According to the schools not enough applied, so who knows what really is going on. Perhaps just too many applied thru DC.

How did you get that information exactly? There shouldn't be quotas on the particular embassies, being that it's a national scholarship and all.

[JDavies]

Its comforting at least to see that I’m not the only person from the EU still eagerly awaiting some form of communication

[LuoKai]

Yeah.. Lets keep everyone updated on the progress!

[emulgator]

I'm also pre-selected from the EU and still waiting for notification.

[xiaoya]

Hi everyone,

I just got my acceptance today (I'm from Perth, Western Australia) but I was sent to a school that wasn't even on my preference list. I was sponsored by my university who told me to put ZheDa and nothing else since as they are our sister uni there would no question of me not getting in. But I've been placed in Zhejiang Normal, which looks nothing like as good and isn't even in Hangzhou...

Does anyone know how I can go about appealing this? It's been my dream to go to ZheDa since I started studying Chinese so I'm completely devastated. =( It's worse than not receiving a scholarship at all for me since I could at least apply to do exchange at the uni I WANT to go to if I didn't get this...what can I do?

[benhadad]

In the process of apply for the scholarship and trying to find out how things work I have collected the information from various source such as previous students, reports

and 1st person experience.

To summarize what I understand is this: [This is my personal Interpretation of my findings]

1. China wants high quality individuals to come and study.

2. Currently there are not enough high quality candidates applying

3. CSC is just one organ of MOE that hands out scholarships (24,000 co-current students a year or 10,000 -12,000 new scholarships a year)

4. They pick first from current University students in hope that the University will hold sway over the student while studying in china and that the student will take it seriously.

5. Those who do not apply via a University have in the past not gone to class and have cause trouble and China has little leverage over them.

6. Going though the Embassy was the only way that CSC could get high caliber professionals who are not associated with a University to study. America has a higher ratio of respected professionals (Such as Bill Gates) who do not have Degrees than countries such as china.

7. China's University degrees do not carry the same weight as ones from US universities, so there is no incentive for individuals to come to china and study other than a personal desire or personal conviction to do so. China is trying to change this. By having Americans attend this will increase the weight of such degrees in America as these individuals return and obtain higher and higher positions of responsibility in companies and other institutions. Perhaps in the future a accord such as the Washington Accord will include china. I know Americans for example who have graduated from US Abet Accredited course could aid Chinese Universities to apply and receive ABET recognition.

8.China recognizes to be a superpower people need to speak your language, currently 40 million outside of china are learning Chinese. Currently there are over 110 million students in china learning English. China wants to change this number.

9. One way to do this is to invite individuals to come and study in china. If 40 million study based on 160,000 coming, then the ratio is 1 to 250. So they would need to double that number to level the field.

10. It appears that currently CSC has slots for 12,000 people a year (based on individuals staying 2 years). They have agreements with 140 schools. Most of the schools in the US allow up to 10 people so lets say 1,400 for the US. So it seems that based on the worlds population (excluding China) that the US should receive 4 billion / 24,000 = one scholarship per 166,000 individuals. That would put the US in line to receive 1700-2000 Scholarships per year. After factoring the Univ's in that leaves 2000-1400 around 300 to 600 spots left over for the Embassys to fill. If these are divided by the 5 Consulates that would set a quota of around 30 per consulate.

It was noted by someone that TX approved 28 this year which is in line with this figure.

So it would seem in CSC and China's interest to accept more than 300 to 600 spots if they have high quality applicants in this category who are good PR and will sincere learn the language and culture. However if they are limited they can't afford to pick individuals who will view this as a free ride and holiday.

So it seems due to CSC constraints and the ability of this forum to aid people in applying it is quite conceivable that we would max out the quota, yet there be plenty of room at the schools and in their scholarship budgets. But it also seems that CSC should double it's Scholarship amount too, if it's a 1 to 10 ratio by accepting all those applying currently ( I estimate 2500 verse the open 2000 amount) that they would see an increase of another 5000 American paying there way to study. This basically would me that giving scholarships away could actually be making them money and improving their national image.

From my estimates is seems that the break down of people studying in china would be as follows

1. Asia 141,000 (For example Korea, Japan, Philippines, India, Russia )

2. Europe 27,000 (2000-3000 on scholarships)

3. America 19,000 (with 2000 to 3000 on scholarships)

4. Africa 6000 (Probably with 90% on scholarships)

5. Oceania 2000 (probably 80-90% on scholarships)

If someone wants my references I can provide them via PM.

Edited July 22, 2009 at 11:31 AM by benhadad
clarify audiance

[JDavies]

"Dear Chinese scholarship applicant,

First of all, on behalf of the Educational and Cultural Office of the Mission of P.R.China to the European Union, I am writing to convey my warmest congratulations on your admission to the Chinese Government Scholarship (EU Window) for 2009-2010 academic year.

As you may be aware, the Chinese Government Scholarship (EU Window) sponsors 100 full scholarships per academic year to the European students to study Chinese language and culture for one year in China. Through the exchange visits of our younger generation, we sincerely wish to strengthen the mutual understanding between Europe and China and thus contribute to the peace and harmony of the world.

While extending to you our warm congratulations, I hope that this will offer you an excellent opportunity to improve your Chinese language proficiency as well as your knowledge of Chinese culture and civilization, economy and trade, and people and society. Your experience in China will not only benefit your own career development, but also contribute to better understanding between the Chinese and European peoples.

On July 22, I mailed the admission package from Brussels to the PERMANENT ADDRESS you filled in your application form. You are expected to receive them in a week, but for some countries the mails may be delayed somewhat. In case of urgent need, our office will be here for your information."

To all those applying from the EU, i suggest you check your e-mails. Woop

[benhadad]

@xiaoya

Yeah that is hard to take! I have learned the same thing in a different way. If you want to go to 1 school and only one school you should have applied to the school and gotten the acceptance letter to include in your application. Since you applied via your school I would think that your school sponsorship would have more say in the matter than you. CSC is suppose to have certain agreements with various schools, so they would be in the best position to argue your case.

CSC is in my option pretty good about trying to accommodate individuals, however they do have limitations. If it happens to be that many Foreigners have already selected that location and are self-funded then you will get bumped to a location that is lacking. This is true especially if the particular location is close to full.

[Most of my info is from ones who have talked to admissions and been to schools before (right now about 20 people I know of personally). And is limited to Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, and Tianjin]

[roddy]

Xiaoya, I would say the best way to handle that is to get your university to contact Zheda and have them contact the CSC.

[lavenderfields]

I applied for the CSC scholarship 2009 under my American Citizen status. However on the paperwork I had to put where I was born, which was in Taiwan. I applied to study and get a BA in Chinese. Although I was past the age qualification for the BA program, I already had my AA Degree. However I contacted CSC yesterday and Mr. Dong informed me that CSC never received my application from the San Francisco Embassy in CA. Mr. Dong informed me that the embassies review the application, choosing the applications that will be actually sent to CSC. He informed me that there really is not a way around that process. The gentleman handling the CSC applications in SF is a Mr. Fa Ming Yao and he has not responded to my repeated phone calls. Half the time no one picks up. The other half of the time it is a very nice lady whom only speaks Chinese and doesn't know about the scholarship program. She then transfers me to another gentleman who forwards me to Mr. Fa Ming Yao. This tells me that they must be extremely busy with applications.

So far, I still don't know why the SF Embassy did not decide to forward my application to CSC. It doesn't seem hopeful that I will find out either as it is nearly impossible to get in touch with Mr. Fa Ming Yao directly. However, it could either be that I am originally a Taiwanese national, which may disqualify me even though I am a US citizen, or that I marked "fair" under Chinese language ability and that I wanted to major in Chinese, or that I was not academically prestigious enough.

I must say that I was extremely disappointed that I was not accepted as I feel that I was a perfect fit for this program and I would have really benefited as a student. I would have benefited the CSC program and Chinese university as well. Thanks for everyone's input on this as it was very helpful for me when I was applying. Congratulations to those whom received the scholarship and whom are serious about studying in China. I will definitely try again next year.

[LuoKai]

@ JDavies

Thanks for the quick message, got the same message so it seems that our patience was finally awarded...

Will get back to everyone with my university selection as soon as it comes in.

[Jason G]

benhadad,

I asked you how you know that the people who have currently been notified are the only people who will be. For example, in past years there have been people notified in batches; this year might very well be the same. You made an authoritative statement indicating that you knew for certain. So do you?

As for the rest of your post, you know absolutely nothing about the strength of my application. Making the inference that I'm somehow not worth it isn't particularly warranted or on topic.

[benhadad]

@Jason G

"I asked you how you know that the people who have currently been notified are the only people who will be. For example, in past years there have been people notified in batches; this year might very well be the same. You made an authoritative statement indicating that you knew for certain. So do you?"

The reason I know is that this is what I was told by both the individual at CSC and the Washington DC embassy. They both said all items have been mailed out and received by the DC embassy and all have been notified. So there is a possibility that SF for example has not notified individuals because our call there we were told the individual was sick and out of work, however that was over a week ago. So my comment was directed towards those who applied through DC.

As for the rest of your post, you know absolutely nothing about the strength of my application. Making the inference that I'm somehow not worth it isn't particularly warranted or on topic.

I don't recall questioning the strength of your application. After reviewing my post I understand why you might feel this way. Some of my comments appear right under yours but are more of a general reply to all who applied thru DC. In my long response that started with a reply to you only the top part is a response to you. The rest is just a general discovery of information I feel is true based upon my research. I will edit the comment to reflect this separation of information.

Edited July 22, 2009 at 02:18 PM by benhadad

[michael289]

Wooohooo! Just got the email from Brussels and I have got the scholarship through the EU Window. Absolutely delighted but still not sure which school I will be going to so I guess that will be with the information that they are mailing out.

[Rubjar]

Great news from MEXICO:mrgreen:

I got accepted for a 5 years scholarship, I don't know the details, but what I know is that I have the opportunity to chose my university:D (they said It shows 2 universities Harbin institute of technology and Tianjin University, I have to confirm this). I called SRE, they are in charged of the scholarships for Mexico given by foreign countries. They have a list, I'm in babe8).

Im really exited, so I will give further details when I get the e-mail from them.

good luck to everyone!

[xiaoya]

@roddy, benhadad:

Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately the teacher who originally oversaw my application is leaving to take up a post elsewhere--however, staff at our Confucius Institute have said they will do what they can for me. A few of them are from ZheDa originally too, so hopefully I have a chance. Is it worth contacting the CSC directly as well?

I would be perfectly happy to study in Beijing or even in some of the other major centres, I just didn't put these preferences down because I was told not to. Zheda is certainly my dream but I wouldn't be so upset about not getting in there if I had been placed somewhere else that still looked worthwhile...

Visiting the CI tomorrow to see what can be done. Wish me luck!

[ABQgirl]

Well, I just wrote to DC to ask for details of my scholarship and sure enough they responded quickly to let me know.

I too am being sent to a place I did not request. I am being sent to Nanjing normal university for one year of language and then to Sichuan University (which was my second choice) for 4 years of a master's program.

I am not to thrilled about this. I really need to be in the city of Chendgu for various reasons. What are your thoughts out there about the chances of paying my own way for the first year and passing the HSK before taking the scholarship next year. Do you think there is any way they might let me do that? Who would I ask?

[Jason G]

Well, my name wasn't on the list. =/

Anyway, any of you coming to Beijing, feel free to look me up when you get here.

[jacki]

Jason, I'm sorry you didn't get the scholarship

I did email back to ask about where I was being sent, and my reply made me laugh:

Dear Jacki,

We sent the documents yesterday.So you'll get your admission notice very soon. :-)

The smilie in an email from an embassy is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while