Confucius Institute Scholarship

[ZhangKaiRong]

Hey guys,

Good to know that this forum also has a CIS thread.

I am very very pissed of because of my country's policy of granting the CSC scholarships... We have a bilateral agreement with China, saying that 21 students from four universities having a 中文系 get the scholarship every year. We have a Scholarship Council as well, and they make the decision about who the lucky ones will be, the CSC only accepts them - but it's just formality, they obviously get it, because no one else can apply to the CSC apart from them.

Anyway, this goddamned council rearranged the quotas for each universities, and we lost two places compared to the prior years. Long story short, I failed at tha national Scholarship Council, in spite of the fact that my application was ultra-competitive. Sadly, life's not too kind with me, it's my third failure at Chinese scholarships due to the ridiculous national criteria.

So I was happy to read the announcement of the 2012 Confucius Institute/Hanban Scholarship, because it is my last chance in my life to get a scholarship to China, but it's very confusing for me. I meet all the criteria mentioned in the announcement, though the 800-word study plan will be a real pain to write, and honestly I don't know why they need them from all candidates when it's obvious they won't read them.

First of all, I know I have to register at http://cis.chinese.cn. Second option in the log-in box is register, but after I accept the terms, I have to fill it with my personal datas. The 3rd point is the recommending institute, and I don't have a clue what to choose here. Any hints?

My second concern is the medical papers. It's not on the list of the application documents, which seems to mean that I don't have to submit them now. Is it really the case? If so, when shall I submit them the examination papers?

Thank you for any responses

[Hesham119]

Hello everyone

I have been chosen to go to China study for one year by the Confucius institute of Cairo university

so I went to the website (cis.chinese.cn) and registered and uploaded all the needed materials

then submitted

then I printed all needed materials and gave them to my teachers in the Confucius institute

but then my teachers asked me to go the websites of the universities I applied for, and apply online, and pay the entry fees (报名费）

so I am not sure if that is right, do I really have to pay the 报名费？ because the official scholarship website :cis.chinese.cn didn't mention anything about that step

in the official website they wrote that

二、奖学金资助内容及标准

II. Scholarship Coverage and Criteria

孔子学院奖学金按资助内容包括：注册费、学费、基本教材费、一次性安置费、生活费，提供住宿、门诊医疗服务和来华留学生综合保险。录取前已在华学习半年以上者，不再发给一次性安置费。

Scholarship winners are exempt from registration fees, tuition, fees for basic learning materials, accommodation fees on campus, and are provided with a one-off resettlement subsidy, monthly allowance, outpatient medical service and comprehensive insurance for foreign students studying in China. The one-off resettlement subsidy will not be provided to those who have studied in China for more than half a year before being enrolled.

what do they mean by registration fees ? does it mean 报名费？

Ps: in the application process, I wrote 北京师范大学 and 北京第二外国语大学

when I applied online on their websites it seems like the application has nothing to do with the scholarship, as if it is 自费

have any one had experience with this scholarship

any help appreciated

Thank you

Hesham

[ZhangKaiRong]

I asked my friend about this entry fee. He got the CIS two years ago, so he might be a realiable source.

He said that this was complete BS. You don't have to pay anything, because it's still not 100% sure that you can go to China. Hanban needs to review your application first, then THEY forward your materials to the universities. It means that they cover all costs regarding any kind of administration.

So if you apply with all the necessary materials, you can sit back and relax, the results will come soon

[Hesham119]

Thank you ZhangKaiRong for your concern

I have emailed the 汉办 and they said the same thing like you said, no entry fees and no need to apply on the university website online

Now lets wait for their reply

[ZhangKaiRong]

Good luck with the results!

How long is your application statement letter? Because in the English translation of the scholarship announcement they say you need to write a 800 word-long letter, but in the Chinese version they mention 800 字, which can mean character or word...

[travelgirl]

hi everyone,

I m also applying for this scholarship for the one year language program.

I have a few questions on my own if anyone has a clue.

1)my teacher told me that i have more chances to get the scholarship if i apply for the university they cooperate.It's a very good university,it's beijing business university.But the thing is that i prefer Blcu or BNU since my plan is to become a teacher afterwards so their selevtive courses will be nearer to my preference.

2)After i have all the documents she told me that they don't give the scholarship if you have studied before in China.I studied in Blcu for 3 months and she said i should'n say that.But i haven't read that anywhere else and besides that,in the application asks you if you have studied in china before.If they wouldn't give you the scholarship why should they ask that the first place?

any clues

[ZhangKaiRong]

After understanding the whole procedure of the CIS, I think I know why everyone says that you have better chance if you apply for the partner university. Basically, Hanban choose X people to grant them the scholarship, and afterwards they forward their application to the universities each applicants applied for, and the universities decides whether or not accept the students. Of course they prefer the applicants from one of their partner universities, so it's quite likely that you get the scholarship in that case. However, universities can reject applicants as well. In the form, there is a point stating that you accept any other universities recommended by Hanban, so in theory Hanban should look for other possible solutions for the applicants with scholarship. But it's a very rare case. Normally, if you couldn't manage to get a place out of your two preferences, Hanban simply ignores your scholarship, and you can try the following year. So I suggest you to put either BLCU or BNU to your first place and Beijing Business University to your second place. If you have luck, there will be vacancy for foreign students in BLCU/BNU.

BtW, our university's partner is the BLCU, but none of our applicants would like to go to Beijing...

Your second point is not quite true: if you have studied before in China, you can still get the scholarship - though if you have studied before in China with a scholarship, your chances to get the CIS are lower. China's interest is to finance the studies of a lot of different foreigners, so they prefer the new faces to the ones that have already studied in China.

[travelgirl]

Thank you for the quick reply.

So let me see if i got this right,if my first choice is Blcu and i got accepted they i will go there even if i got accepted from UIBE.

because I would really prefer studying in Blcu or BNU than UIBE.

[Hesham119]

@ZhangKaiRong

Thanks for your good luck wish

About the application statement letter I wrote it in Chinese, and it was about 1200 Characters, and I let my Chinese friend correct it for me

[ZhangKaiRong]

travelgirl: Yeah, if you're accepted to go to BLCU/BNU, you go there. But it would be wise for you to apply for the partner university as well, because if your first choice is not available due to no vacancy, you still have a more or less sure place. But I hope you can be admitted to your first choice

Hesham: Thank you for the information My letter is only 953 character long, but I hope it will be enough...

I just filled the application form, though there are things that unclear for me... On the first page, there is a "Business contact or guardian in China" block. I have none of the above, because I am 22, so I don't need to have a guardian, and I neither have any kind of business contact, because hopefully it will be my ever first time in China... So what the heck shall I write here? It's compulsory, so I can't submit the online form without this one. I really miss the CSC's online system, it was way easier to use...

[xuefang]

I just applied today through Sun Yat-Sen University where I'm doing my undergrad. It was easy for us as we just had to fill in the online form and that's it. Now I just have to wait and see if I can get the scholarship.

On the first page, there is a "Business contact or guardian in China" block. I have none of the above, because I am 22, so I don't need to have a guardian, and I neither have any kind of business contact, because hopefully it will be my ever first time in China... So what the heck shall I write here?

I'm not sure if I did correctly, but I entered my Chinese boyfriend's information there.

[Hesham119]

Thank you for the information My letter is only 953 character long, but I hope it will be enough...

I think it would be enough

On the first page, there is a "Business contact or guardian in China" block. I have none of the above, because I am 22, so I don't need to have a guardian, and I neither have any kind of business contact, because hopefully it will be my ever first time in China... So what the heck shall I write here?

Here we were recommended by the Confucius institute of Cairo university, so in this part our teacher told us to write the name of the 院长 of the Confucius institute and his phone number

About the entry fee I contacted Beijing normal university and they said that I have to pay it :'(

so its better contacting the university you are applying for in case they need any fees

by the way

which university are you applying for ?

[ZhangKaiRong]

Thanks for the information At our university they said that we could fill in with the data provided in the Hanban's "About Us" contact... I hope it won't do any wrong.

This entry fee is quite surprising, did you tell them that you're applying through the Confucius Institute Scholarship?

I would like to go to the northeastern part, but not Beijing; I think it would be too much for me for the first time in China, so I tried to find bigger cities near Beijing. I put Nankai University in Tianjin to the first place, and the Ocean University of China in Qingdao to the second place. If I get the scholarship, I suppose I will be accepted by the Ocean Uni, due to the fact that it is one of my univerity's partner institute. I have never been abroad during my university years, skipped the Erasmus exchange program at all, because I only wanted to go to China, so I would gladly go to any university which accepts me as a student

[travelgirl]

ZhangKaiRong

if you have a chinese friend through QQ or msn...you can tell him her to give you his her adress....

unfortunatelly it's necessary to fill it.

I think 900 words it's still enough,after all i ve heard that they don't even read it sometimes(too bad).

My teacher told me to send the documents but when i take them the receipt they will give me the money back.

Anyone applying for BlCU or UIBE?

[ZhangKaiRong]

Unfortunately I don't have friends in China, I don't even have a QQ account, but I solved it without it

Does any of you know the method of choosing the scholarship recipients? I'm the second out of the maximum fifteen on the list of our university's candidates, so my application will definitely be forwarded to Hanban, but I'm not sure about being happy about this or not. I heard that in the Chinese Government Scholarship the CSC just accepts the decision of the Embassies / Chinese universities on the candidates, it could be the case with Hanban as well? I didn't apply for popular universities, so I suppose I will get a host institute's letter from one of them, so that won't be a problem...

It's so annoying that I can't plan my life because of the long response time I'm ending my university studies next semester, so I have to arrange an awful lot of things, but this scholarship can overwrite everything.

[ZhangKaiRong]

Ah, ignore my last post, I've just read how the application procedure was. Anyway, I write it down, maybe it would be useful for the next year applicants.

So the case is that your application is being forwarded to the host institutes by the RECOMMENDING institute. Until now I thought that they forwarded it to Hanban. So if you're lucky enough and your recommending institute chooses you, then the host university is the one who actually decides about your fate. And this is why the universities can prefer the partner institutes' applicants, and this is why a lot of famous universities reject applicants - there are too many candidates for too little capacity. Then the host institutes make a list about the accepted candidates, and I suppose the Hanban just agrees with this list. Of course they might cut the number of the accepted candidates due to budget issues, but I guess the system is very well-made with the quotas granted to individual Confucius Institutes, so there is no big chance for too much error. I also understand now why most candidates rejected by host institutes don't get the scholarship...

In this case I feel the best strategy to those who want to be sure about going to China is to apply for a really good university on the first place, and choose a less popular on the second (not a Beijing/Shanghai one, but one from a smaller city). In this way you can raise your chance of getting the scholarship.

[ZhangKaiRong]

Something has happened to my status at the online application. It was "状态：确认中", now it's "状态：已确认". I suppose my application was confirmed, but what does it mean regarding the scholarship process?

[Madayou]

Hi guys,

I applied for confucius scholarship too and i want to ask you if it is possibile to work part-time. I chose the one year program and i heard that lessons are only in the morning so i guess i could work in the afternoon. Are there any rules that prevent scholarship students from working??

I was ''queren zhong'' and now i'm ''yi queren'' too, this waiting will kill me!!!!!

[Hesham119]

Something has happened to my status at the online application. It was "状态：确认中", now it's "状态：已确认". I suppose my application was confirmed, but what does it mean regarding the scholarship process?

Me too, I think it means application submitted successfully and now we have to wait for the reply from university

Hi guys,

I applied for confucius scholarship too and i want to ask you if it is possibile to work part-time. I chose the one year program and i heard that lessons are only in the morning so i guess i could work in the afternoon. Are there any rules that prevent scholarship students from working??

I think it is okay if you dont have to miss classes

i ve had friends who worked during the scholarship and missed a lot of classes so they didnt get the certificate

[edelweis]

Foreigners can't work legally in China unless they have a Work visa. Or in some instance a Business visa.