Confucius Institute Scholarship 2018

[pan.kasper]

Hey

I intend to apply for a one-year Chinese program in one of the Chinese universities with the Confucius Institute starting in September 2018. I am due to take HSK3 and HSKK (Beginner) in few days (24th March) and receive the results by 24th April. I intend to submit my application by the end of April/beginning of May (according to the website, a deadline is 20th of June). I have a few questions regarding the application. So,

1) I am not a student of Confucius Institute. When I first came to their office I was assured that this is not a requirement. Further, I sent an email to another branch of CI and they confirmed that I can apply not being a classroom student of CI. However, in this forum and few other places, I encounter opinions that if you're not a student, applying for a scholarship is either harder or impossible. In the official requirements, it's written that CI Students and excellent HSK performers are a both eligible for the scholarship. Does it mean that as a non-CI student I need a higher result of HSK3? How high do I potentially need to score to be awarded scholarship (i can easily get 280+ in mock tests)? 

2) Is it a little late to submit an application by end of April? I heard that the earlier the better, but I can't do that before 24th March as this is when my results come. I've heard that it's easier to get a place if an application is sent early - is the end of April considered as a relatively early or late application (with a deadline at 20th June) 

3) Should I rather apply for some second or third-tier universities to improve my odds? My dream is to study in Tsinghua, Zhejiang, Nanjing or Wuhan, but if I am not to be accepted there, I would still want to go to any university as long as it will help me develop my Chinese language

4) If, and only if, you will find that it is unlikely for me to be rewarded Confucius Institute Scholarship, should I try to attempt some other scholarship instead? Can I apply for both CIS and CSC at the same time (know this question been asked many times, but I only found contradicting answers)? Any suggestions/recommendations? 

I am really anxious now about the whole thing and I would really appreciate any advice on that matter. Please feel free to ask any other questions regarding that scholarship in this thread. 

 

[AaronUK]

Hi @pan.kasper

 

The different types of scholarships listed are available on http://cis.chinese.cn/

 

1)There is no indication that you have to be a classroom student for the scholarship you are interested in, it does say that you need to maintain contact with your recommending CI. I think some will be happy to recommend you based on you doing exam there. But perhaps other peoples experiences are different if they go to CI that has a lot of students which they would prefer to prioritise for recommendations. Some CI have strong connections to a university in China and so prefer to make use of this connection for people who study with them.

 

2) the application deadlines are listed on the website under proceedures. (June 20th for Sept intake).

 

3) Tsinghua is not on the list of hosting institutions this year. I can only agree with you presumption about more famous universities being more competitive, but you would need to think about what works best for you if you want to have a good experience, some people prefer to study in less popular places to improve their opportunities chance of language acquisition, other people who have no exposure to China are not so confident to go down this route.

 

All in all I would recommend you to just try for this scholarship if you are taking HSK3/HSKK and your goal is to study Chinese for one year only. 

 

Let us know how you get on and maybe some of your experiences studying so far/ motivations for applying?

 

Aaron

[ZhangKaiRong]

I'd definitely recommend to apply for less famous universities, as you have a much better chance to be selected there. There is no proof to this, but the quota system of CIS and CGS is ultimately the same, there is a set number of students who can be admitted to the language program, and in some cases, CGS can be preferred over CIS (or at least it worked like this 5 years ago). Famous universities attract way more applicants for both scholarship programs, so competition is fiercer.

Also, there is simply no rationale for insisting on studying as a language program participant at a top university, as the language program's quality and the university's general quality in degree programs are not interrelated, you can say that they are completely different. I understand that for CV boosting you would like to attend the best university possible - which is helpful in all cases, but especially when your university at home is not a top one -, but attending a good university's Chinese language program does not mean that you'll have superior Chinese language skills compared to a student who attended a second or third tier university's one. On a limited sample, I would say it's often the contrary...

[pan.kasper]

@AaronUK Thanks so much for your very thorough reply. I see that you are from London, that's where I live now and that's where the branch of CI I am applying from is located (specifically at the SOAS University). Did you also apply from London? And if yes, which branch did you choose? Do you have any advice or recommendations for me regarding CIs in London?

@ZhangKaiRong Thanks for the advice. I think you are right, but I am still a bit confused about which universities are more and which are less competitive. Obviously, the ones like Tsinghua or Peking will be very hard to get into (guess I won't even apply for that), but what about Wuhan University or Chongqing University? Should I apply for them or is it also too competitive and should rather try something even less popular. Guess it all depends on my HSK3 score, but not being a CI classroom student I think I will have it especially hard to get anywhere. I've seen many of your posts from years ago, I remember that you have been applying many times and got a bit unlucky a few times, but I hope at the end you received your scholarship. 

[AaronUK]

1 hour ago, pan.kasper said:

@AaronUK Thanks so much for your very thorough reply. I see that you are from London, that's where I live now and that's where the branch of CI I am applying from is located (specifically at the SOAS University). Did you also apply from London? And if yes, which branch did you choose? Do you have any advice or recommendations for me regarding CIs in London?

 

I haven't applied for this scholarship actually I just spent a LOT of time looking into it.

 

I took the two exams at SOAS and received an email some time later saying they are beginning to write recommendations for the scholarship and to send them a screenshot of my results and my preferred university if i wanted a recommendation (I had not taken any classes with them at the time, i'm not sure if they directly run CI classes except short HSK revision sessions).

 

I believe Queen Mary, Goldsmiths and CIBL (LSE) might have a different approach since they run classes directly and have links to specific Universities in China. Queen mary has a link with Fudan Shanghai, Goldsmiths with Capital Normal and Jiangsu University and CIBL with Tsinghua (but this is no longer a choice for CIS). I have personal experience with all 4 but I can't say what their process is for recommendations, I think Queen Mary and Goldsmiths prioritise Chinese Undergraduate students at their universities to spend a year in China. I attended a Summer camp with Goldsmiths which was very well run and the staff are all quite friendly. There is also a CI at London Southbank but I never had any interactions with them, I just looked at their website and it says they have some partner universities they recommend in Harbin which have greater chance of acceptance if they recommend. 

 

One thing to remember is that the scholarship requirements change from year to year and also the staff at the CI can change some what as well. I would just recommend you to try early so you can avoid problems ahead of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pan.kasper]

@AaronUK thanks for your reply, that's actually very helpful. As you were saying, I also think that LSE CI prioritise their own students and Chinese language major, since I am neither I would rather apply from SOAS. I also think that SOAS doesn't hold any classes, as there was nothing about it on their website, that might actually be good news to me, as that'd mean there shouldn't be any problems with getting the recommendation from them. Do you know if SOAS branch has any partners among Chinese universities? About the Southbank CI, I saw that it is called London Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine, so I assumed it is for people who intend to study something related to that. Also, can you tell me when more or less you received an email from SOAS that they are starting to write recommendations? What I mean is, how long before the deadline they do that, cause I would like to send the application as early as possible

[AaronUK]

@pan.kasper I got an email from SOAS 27 April 2017 but the administrator might not even be the same person anymore. Best to just speak to them directly when you get your result. Don't be too anxious though, I think they adjust the requirement for CIS every year, last year it was made harder (min score/HSKK), this year is lower again. I can only imagine they make this adjustment to get the right number of applicants. 

[pan.kasper]

@AaronUK great, that's what I will do then. Thanks

 

Also, does anybody know whether I should choose a Chinese Language Program or TCSOL? Cause according to this year's requirements, it's 270 HSK 3 for TCSOL and only 180 for the language program. For me the main priority is to learn Mandarin, so guess it would make sense to choose language program, but I'm not sure if that's not more of a limited option, with perhaphs not so many universities who can offer that or more limited amount of people who can qualify. Everywhere forum I read, people just apply for TCSOL

[Anaxx]

Hello, I have a question do you think previously working in China(working visa in passport) has any bad influence on your application?

[Veronica Peña]

Hi! I want to apply to the one-academic-year scholarship. I want to take the teaching program. It is required to have HSK 3 and a HSKK. I have a HSK 4 (253 points), HSKK basic (85 points) and a HSKK intermediate (69 points). My score is much better in HSKK basic. Is it better to apply with my hskk intermediate or my hskk basic?

[pan.kasper]

@Anaxx doubt it, many people here applied even while still in China working there. 

@Veronica Peña I am not sure, but maybe basic level would be better, since that's the only requirement. I've heard stories of people who couldn't get scholarship because they HSK level was too high (which makes sense if somebody already has HSK5 while the purpose of one year programs is to pass that exam at the end of the course)  

 

[Veronica Peña]

Does anybody know which university in Beijing is easier to be admitted? I want to go to Beijing but it seems to be very difficult. Would recommend be a university in Beijing?

[pan.kasper]

@Veronica Peña I only know the good ones from the name, but maybe try the ones from the bottom of the list of best universities in China. Generally I think the higher the university in the ranking, the harder is to get admitted.

[Veronica Peña]

Does anybody know if I can apply to the Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages if I already have a Bachelor's degree? I graduated from university last year.

[RFC]

Hello

 

Before applying to the Confucius Scholarship for a one-year language program should I contact the Universities I intend to study at first?

[pan.kasper]

@RFC There's no such requirement 

[RFC]

Hi!

How do they want our signature? just in a blank piece of paper?

 

[mavessein]

is anyone having this issue, the website http://studyinchina.csc.edu.cn not allowing login ?

[pan.kasper]

@RFCyes, in a blank white piece of paper, at least that's the way I did it. 

@mavessein sorry I've got no idea, this is a thread for CIS not CSC, there is another thread for CSC you should try checking there

 

Does anybody know how long it usually takes for HSK certificate to arrive?

[AaronUK]

24 minutes ago, pan.kasper said:

Does anybody know how long it usually takes for HSK certificate to arrive?

 

Depends if it’s paper or online test. But usually anywhere between 4-8 weeks. You can context the CI you took the exam at because they might have them and just not forwarded it on yet.