"Recommending Institute" Confucius Institute Scholarship

[Muyan0707]

Hello, I'm very confused about the recommendation process for the Confucius Institute scholarship. I have studied in China before with a provincial scholarship and would like to apply for a CI scholarship for next Spring (one semester). On the application, I am required to select a recommending institute and obtain a letter of recommendation. Since I have no connection to the embassy, and my previous HSK locations are in China, the only option that appears to apply to me is 孔子学院, but this is where my problem comes in.

 

My institution (Missouri State University) does not have a CI. The only one in my state is at the University of Missouri, and I took the HSKK 高级 there in October. I have asked my proctor for a letter of recommendation, but she has refused on the basis that she does not know me well enough. Now I'm stuck and don't know who would qualify as a recommender. I have tried to explain the situation to their office, but it has been to no avail. 

 

I passed my HSK 5 at a tiny college in Qingdao (though I was studying at Qingdao University as an exchange student through my American uni). If I try to select China as the country for a 孔子学院 recommending institution on the application, it only offers the choice of one school in Hong Kong.

 

I plan on applying to 暨南大学 and 西安交通东西 as my first and second choices respectively. If anyone here could shed some light about alternative recommendations or how to approach this situation, I would be extremely interested in your suggestions.

 

Thank you

[edelweis]

My feeling is that CI scholarships are reserved for CI students. And even then, they don't recommend all of their students.

 

I guess you could ask the CIs around you whether they offer online classes and/or whether they can evaluate you for recommendation based on an interview.

And you could contact your teacher in Qingdao to ask whether they can give you a recommendation which you could show to the CI so that they know about you.

 

But won't you spend more to get the recommendation than you would get with a scholarship?

Maybe look into other scholarships or save money so that you can self-fund your studies.

 

Edit: to be clear, I took classes at a CI for one year. And the teacher made it very clear that she was recommending only one person in our class for a scholarship. And it was only a short scholarship of a few weeks.

[BXD]

Hey @Muyan0707 !!

 

So, I applied for a 4-Week Study Program in Taiji Culture beginning in December 2018 (Deadline: 20 September 2018).

 

I faced a similar problem as you did. The problem was, in my country, there are only 2 Confucius Institutes. And they are rather not that helpful. I contacted them numerous times but to no avail. Finally, I visited the CIS Website again and discovered that even Embassies can act as Recommending Institutions. I know that most students directly contact the Confucius Institutes to write them a letter of recommendation, but incase you find that the Confucius Institutes are not helping, directly contact the embassy for a letter of recommendation, like I did. I know contacting embassy for a Letter of Recommendation seem daunting and sometimes they do not even know that they can act as recommending institutions or have incomplete information! But Hey, when Confucius Institutes are not helping, they are your only option. And the Educational Division in the Chinese Embassy in my country was actually quite helpful once I clarified my case to them over the phone. XD

 

And guess what!!! Things worked out pretty well and I got the Scholarship !!

I've already begun my 4-Week long program at Guangxi University for Nationalities !!!

 

Wish you all the best for applying for One-Semester Study beginning in March 2019! Good luck! XD