2017 Confucius Institute Scholarship

[Toffy]

@Jellyfish

Thanks for the reply! I've contacted Hanban about 2 weeks ago and they gave me an answer but i am not very sure how to interpret this. ( well, not even my chinese teacher from CI gets what that's supposed to mean). Goes like this:
....你的推荐机构“...孔子学院”并没有推荐，所以你的申请未被处理。

which is a little puzzling, since i definetely uploaded CI's recommendation letter to my application. I checked that again after this answer. 

It sounds like I or my CI is supposed to do something else than this upload to make it work...

Were there any experiences like this before?

 

 

[Njord Frans]

Hello, everyone! This is my first post here and I deeply apologize for any "unwanted attempt" of breaking the forum's rules. 

 

I have been very interested in the Confucius Institute Scholarship. I am a university student learning both Chinese and English as my main majors, I have finished the first year (managed to take HSK 2, got 196/200) and these weeks I am preparing for the HSK 3, hopefully I can finish it by the end of this month and take the exam in October(or in November, if my country's universities won't organise the exam for the October's date, which should be 15th). 

 

My big downsides are that my university has established the Chinese major for only 2 years, so things are pretty new, which means is very hard to get proper information regarding the scholarships(the Confucius Institute personnel will be changed this year and my local Chinese teachers don't really know about the scholarships). I have been able to gather information on myself and I am decided to apply next year's winter so that I can go in September(if this is the way it actually works). Unfortunately, I have some unanswered questions and hopefully someone knows more and can provide me more information about the following issues I am being troubled with: 

 

1. Some of my Chinese officials from other Chinese language universities in my country said that if I want to apply for the at least 1-year scholarship, I must get the HSK 4 & HSKK, instead of HSK 3 & HSKK. I knew about HSKK, but is it really true they are going to "higher" the requirements? Was there any official notice regarding such change? Not really complaining, considering I am trying to also achieve HSK 4, by the end of this year(even though it will really be messy, I personally think there should be more time for that, but the last exam date is on December 3), but I really wanted to know about that and also to understand if there is a considerable advantage to have HSK 4 instead of just HSK 3 when applying, when comparing to other candidates. 

 

2.Scholarship for Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (BTCSOL) Students - I remember I read about this that I need to be below 20 years old, in order to be eligible. Luckily, I am only 19, but I will be 20 next year's May, considering the application period will occur that time, will be a problem if I turn 20 years old before I can get accepted if that happens? Also, considering this is 4 years undergraduate program, that means I have to interrupt the studies here, right?

 

3.Scholarship for One-Academic-Year Study + MTCSOL Students - The first part is fairly understandable, but I was curious about one thing. Considering I am going to be a second year student(out of three years), am I eligible to apply next year's spring for this one(maybe I can provide an official paper about my grades, something like that...), or do I have to specifically be in the final years, otherwise I cannot join this program?

 

4.I haven't found anything in the official documents about the airplane tickets being covered, is this also included?

 

Hopefully I am posting in the right thread, thank you everyone!

[Wicker West]

Sorry, I didn't notice this thread earlier. Also, I had a very busy summer.

 

I got accepted to Guangzhou's SCNU (so far really disappointed).
I had HSK4 passed with pretty good grade and intermediate oral HSK.
During application process, I noticed they paid a lot of attention to whether I was in China before and what I have pointed out in my research plan.

The university was really helpful with the e-mail contact with other applicants, however, they sent the documents way too late and I had only 3 days to get my visa.

Also, after arrival, the procedures were very difficult to do and everything was in disorder. A week has passed and I'm still running to offices and handing them papers.

 

[Véroniq]

Hey guys. 

I have an question. I got the recommendation from my Confucius institute on March 2017, I applied for fall semester ci scholarship, but then I had to withdraw due personal things. Is it still possible to apply for spring 2018 semester? I got all documents and the recommendation, I checked on web pages of some universities like donghua or tongji that deadline for spring semester application is till end November if I upload documents one more time on cis.chinese my application will be accepted? 

[Lollipopii]

Hey everyone. 

I am in the process of applying for the One-semester CI Scholarship for the semester starting April 2018. I have submitted my online application form. What do I have to do with the print out? My CI doesn't know much about the application process.

Do I have to let my CI sign the print out form and then I have to scan them and email them to my preferred  host institution? Thats what my CI told me.. But i am not sure if that's how the process goes. I want to prevent any mistakes in the application process that would ruin my chance to get selected.

 

[艾墨本]

@Lollipopii, the specifics of the submission stage vary between schools. You should contact the International Students Office at the school you are applying to and ask for specifics on the application process. Sometimes you can find this information readily available on your school's ISO website.

 

As far as the application to Confucius itself, simply filling out the online form is enough.

 

 

On 9/12/2017 at 3:40 PM, Véroniq said:

if I upload documents one more time on cis.chinese my application will be accepted? 

 

Sorry for not answering sooner but directly put, knowing whether or not your application will be accepted is impossible. Apply and see what happens. That's all you can do.

[Lollipopii]

If the host university requires application fee, does this also apply to confucius institute scholarship students? 

[艾墨本]

5 hours ago, Lollipopii said:

f the host university requires application fee, does this also apply to confucius institute scholarship students? 

Sometimes. Contact the school

[happiness47]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to know, if i want to take one year academic year which HSK and HSKK level should i take? and how about the passing grade? is it 180 or 210 for HSK? and 40 for HSKK? or i guess it wrong.. please answer me if you know the answer. sorry for my trouble english

[艾墨本]

@happiness47 Take HSK 4 and HSKK beginner. Passing HSK 5/HSKK intermediate will disqualify you from the one year programs. To qualify, you need to pass HSK 3 (not sure if it's 180 or 210) and HSKK beginner.

[earthtojess]

On 27 October 2017 at 9:14 AM, 艾墨本 said:

Passing HSK 5/HSKK intermediate will disqualify you from the one year programs. To qualify, you need to pass HSK 3 (not sure if it's 180 or 210) and HSKK beginner.

 

 

 

I passed HSK5 (242) and HSKK intermediate (70) and am studying the one year language program. 

[happiness47]

On 10/27/2017 at 8:14 AM, 艾墨本 said:

Take HSK 4 and HSKK beginner. Passing HSK 5/HSKK intermediate will disqualify you from the one year programs. To qualify, you need to pass HSK 3 (not sure if it's 180 or 210) and HSKK beginner.

 

Thank you for your answer, do you have any recommendation about which university that great for study and the living cost is not too expensive?

[艾墨本]

6 hours ago, earthtojess said:

I passed HSK5 (242) and HSKK intermediate (70) and am studying the one year language program. 

 

That's awesome.

 

I am parroting the reason Hanban told me I could not apply for a one year program (I was rejected twice). 

[GdeGab]

Hi!

I have been trying to access the cis.chinese.cn website and so far it's been impossible. Anybody knows if it's because it is not working or because I'm not in China? Any suggestions? 

 

Thank you!

[Frank Jansen]

Hey guys, one question. I am currently a Master student and I have a bachelor degree. Would it be ok if I send a notarized version of my bachelor's certificate and a statement of enrollment in English for my Master? Or do they want to see a certificate from my Master as well (which I will maybe get around April-May)? I want to apply for a one-year Chinese program starting in September 2018.

 

Edit: the documents are in English, is notarization actually necessary then? 

[Jellyfish]

On 27/10/2017 at 1:07 AM, happiness47 said:

HSK and HSKK level should i take? and how about the passing grade? is it 180 or 210 for HSK?

 

A bit late maybe but it'll be good to have this info here for future reference: When we applied for the fall scholarship, the absolute minimum you needed to bring was HSK3 at 270/300 points and a pass at HSKK beginners. However, that was a significant change from the previous round (where the minimum requirement was HSK3 at 210) so it's really important to read the most up to date official documents very carefully.

 

Now I have a question, and due to the fact that we're all 2017 scholarship holders you might not know the answer to this either, but I thought I might as well ask: I've only got a one semester scholarship, meaning I'll be done in mid January. I don't really need a certificate (if indeed there is a certificate) for this, I just did this for myself and out of interest, so I'm considering not sitting the exams in January and going travelling instead (for as long as my visa will let me). Does anyone know if there might be any repercussions? I don't really want to ask my teachers (for obvious reasons) but if you guys don't know I might have to go ahead and do that...

[AaronUK]

@Jellyfish have you found any information about if there is a gap between classes and your exams? Perhaps you can try to get an academic calendar from last year to give you an idea on what you would miss.

 

If it was me i would just wait until finishing and go to Hong Kong after to renew my visa to a tourist visa and then go back.

 

The repercussions are probably not getting your last months stipend and losing face for future scholarships .

[Jellyfish]

@AaronUK Thanks for the quick reply!

I can't actually go travelling for much longer (even if my visa allowed it) because I've got to go back to my job at some point, too. Funds are running a bit low. I know the academic calendar, we have classes all the way through from now until our exams start on the week of the 15th, awards ceremony is on the 20th. Maybe I'll talk to my teachers about applying for leave instead (though they obviously won't like that).

Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to miss any class (and haven't missed a single day since I've arrived) because that's what I came here for, and I did well in the last midterm upgrading exams, I just don't see the point in taking the final exams since there's no higher class I can take after this, and I don't need a transcript of studies.

 

[AaronUK]

@Jellyfish don’t think I would apply for leave. It would be better to save face and give a different reason. I have read about other programs where people want to do the same, they would just take sick on a friday or Monday to travel on weekends and still try to meet their attendance requirement by having 100% at other times. However some programs would require you to report sickness in person to an office. Whatever you decide I wish you luck.

 

I imagine there are people who drop out within a few weeks of china after getting food poisoning a few times and not integrating and I don’t think they would experience any issues leaving. Essentially you are dropping out. Are you sure you wouldn’t want to continue on a longer scholarship in future, or has this experience satisfied you so far.

 

Sorry for the topic change but I’m interested to know..  You had just passed HSK3 just before you started right? How have you found the lessons and accommodation where you are? Are you room sharing in dorms? Have you taken any HSK since/ how would you rate your progress I.e listening skills with people in shops etc? Or consuming regular media?

[Jellyfish]

@AaronUK I'll have a think about it, I'm really not sure what to do. The teachers here are incredibly nice and supportive. As you said, there are lots of people who are just using their time here to travel anyway, or have given up on classes, and our teachers are great with them, too, so I'm hoping they won't have an issue with me not taking exams. It'll just be a surprise I guess but I think they'll be ok. I'd feel bad just leaving and not saying a proper goodbye and thank you to them.

 

Yeah, I'd passed HSK3 with 273 points (270 is the minimum requirement to apply for the CIS). As I said, I've been to all the classes and I can feel I'm making good progress. I'm going to sit HSK4 this Saturday actually, I've done some past papers and have passed them all.

One "problem" (it's more of a minor inconvenience) I've found here at Fudan is that while they have their skills and courses strictly separated into listening, reading, writing and speaking (with different teachers and everything), you can only be at one level for all of them. Eg I'm currently level 5 but I feel like in listening and speaking I could easily be at level 6 and learn much more there, but in reading and writing I'm actually struggling a bit at this level. I've heard from friends who went to Beijing that they could take the different skills at different levels there. I think that'd be nice for me personally, though in general I can see why it makes sense for Fudan (and is logisitically easier) to keep everyone at one level.

I've got no issues talking to people in shops, on the basketball court or in any kind of social situation (I've joined the pottery society here haha). I'm really gutted I have to leave in January, I think that if I continued here for another semester I could try and sit HSK5 in June.

I'm not in shared room dorms, as far as I know there are some shared rooms in the Main Building but I don't know how you'd go about getting into one (not that I'd want to). CIS holders are usually in shared "flats" in the sub building (four single rooms, two shared baths and a shared kitchen area). I'm perfectly happy with my accommodation and I think the majority of students here are, too.