Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC) Type A 2027: Bilateral Programme Guide

The Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC) Type A is the Bilateral Programme: the route that runs through official agreements between China and your own country. Under Type A, scholarships are offered in accordance with educational cooperation and exchange agreements or consensus reached between the Chinese government and the governments, institutions and organisations of other countries. You do not start with a Chinese university, and you do not start with the China Scholarship Council’s online system. You start at home — with the dispatching authority for overseas study in your country, which in practice is usually a government ministry or agency, often working with the Chinese embassy or consulate. That authority recommends candidates; CSC considers only the applications it receives through that channel.

This distinction matters more than any other in the CSC system, because thousands of applicants confuse Type A with Type B every year. Type B is the Chinese University Programme, where you apply directly to a university. Type A is narrower, quota-based and country-specific: the categories available to you, the number of places, and sometimes even whether the scholarship is full or partial are set by the bilateral arrangements for your country. This guide explains exactly how Type A works for the 2027 intake — who is eligible, the official stipend levels published by CSC (CNY 2,500 per month for undergraduates, CNY 3,000 for master’s and general scholars, CNY 3,500 for doctoral and senior scholars), what a full scholarship covers, where a partial scholarship differs, the documents you will need, the early-January to early-April application window, and the mistakes that quietly end Type A applications before they reach China. If you are still deciding between routes, read our comparison in the CSC Type B University Programme guide alongside this one, and browse the wider list in our scholarship directory.

CSC Type A at a Glance

The programme description above follows CSC’s published Bilateral Programme introduction, reproduced on official Chinese government and university pages, including the Henan provincial government page for the Chinese Government Scholarship — Bilateral Program and university CSC pages such as Central South University’s Type A guidance.

How Type A Differs from Type B

Both routes lead to the same scholarship family and, for full awards, essentially the same published coverage. What differs is who controls the front door. In Type A, your home country’s dispatching authority runs a national process — sometimes a public call, sometimes a nomination through ministries or universities — and recommends a limited number of candidates under a bilateral quota. Your file competes first at home. In Type B, you apply directly to a participating Chinese university, the university reviews and nominates you, and CSC makes the final decision; that route is explained in our CSC Type B guide. Some applicants are eligible for both routes in the same year, but the applications are separate, the Agency Numbers are different, and you must follow each channel’s instructions exactly — a Type A form completed with a university’s Type B agency number, or the reverse, is a classic and avoidable error. Our broader guide to fully funded scholarships in China through CSC puts both routes in the context of provincial and university scholarships as well.

Eligibility for CSC Type A

Citizenship and health

Applicants must be citizens of a country other than the People’s Republic of China, and be in good health, mentally and physically. Beyond that universal rule, your country must actually have Type A places for the cycle and category you want — a point applicants overlook. The Bilateral Programme exists because of agreements with specific countries, and the categories on offer (for example, whether undergraduate places exist this year, or only postgraduate) are confirmed by the dispatching authority. Always start by asking your dispatching authority two questions: is my country offered Type A places for the 2027 intake, and for which study categories?

Education and age limits

CSC’s published eligibility rules set both a qualification and an age ceiling for each category:

These limits appear consistently across CSC’s Bilateral Programme materials and in embassy notices for recent cycles, including the Chinese Embassy notice for the 2026/2027 Chinese Government Scholarship. Age is calculated at the time of application, and the limits are applied strictly — being a few months over the ceiling for your category ends eligibility regardless of your academic record.

Language requirements

All applicants are expected to provide language proficiency evidence appropriate to their programme’s teaching language. For Chinese-taught programmes, CSC’s published standards require a valid HSK certificate: in the recent embassy guidance, HSK Level 3 for Chinese-taught general scholar programmes (those studying Chinese language itself are exempted), HSK Level 3 for senior scholar programmes, and HSK Level 4 when applying for Chinese-taught master’s or doctoral programmes; undergraduate applicants for Chinese-taught programmes should check the current threshold with the dispatching authority, as published versions state HSK Level 3 or above for undergraduate and non-degree candidates. For English-taught programmes, applicants should provide a valid English proficiency certificate such as IELTS or TOEFL where the programme requires it. Note also a recent development for degree study: embassy guidance for the 2026/2027 cycle asked undergraduate applicants to take the China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA) and upload a valid score report when applying for bachelor’s programmes. If you are an undergraduate Type A applicant, confirm the CSCA requirement for your country at the very start — it involves test registration lead time that you cannot compress in the final week.

Other conditions

You must meet the admission requirements of the Chinese universities you name, and you should not assume you can hold CSC funding alongside another scholarship for the same study — check the current cycle’s rules on duplicate awards with your dispatching authority. If you are currently studying in China or have previously held a Chinese Government Scholarship, ask specifically whether any restriction applies to your situation before you apply; rules on repeat and concurrent awards are applied by CSC and the dispatching authority on the facts of each case.

Benefits and Coverage: Full vs Partial Scholarships

The Bilateral Programme provides both full scholarships and partial scholarships, in accordance with the agreements behind each country’s allocation. Which type your country receives — and for which categories — is a question for your dispatching authority, not something you can choose on the form.

Full scholarship coverage

• Tuition waiver. Tuition funds are used comprehensively by the host university, covering your education and administration costs and supporting student activities.
• Accommodation. A free university dormitory place — usually a twin room — if the host university requires students to live on campus. If the university permits scholarship students to live off campus, it provides an accommodation subsidy instead: CNY 700 per month for undergraduate students and master’s students / general scholars, and CNY 1,000 per month for doctoral students / senior scholars.
• Monthly stipend. CNY 2,500 per month for undergraduate students; CNY 3,000 per month for master’s students and general scholars; CNY 3,500 per month for doctoral students and senior scholars. These are CSC’s published standard rates, confirmed across its Bilateral Programme pages.
• Comprehensive medical insurance. Provided under the Comprehensive Insurance & Protection Scheme for Foreigners Staying in China referenced on Campus China — CNY 800 per person per year, or CNY 400 per person for programmes lasting less than six months.

Partial scholarship coverage

A partial scholarship covers one or some of the items of the full scholarship — for example, tuition only, or tuition plus insurance without the stipend. If your country’s allocation is partial, read the offer letter line by line and build a realistic budget for everything not covered, especially housing and monthly living costs in your host city. Our cost calculators and study tools can help you model that gap before you accept.

What CSC does not pay for

Plan separately for your international travel unless your country’s specific bilateral arrangement states otherwise (some embassy notices describe country-specific arrangements that include travel, which is precisely why you must read your own country’s notice rather than another country’s), plus visa fees, document notarisation and translation, medical examination costs, and personal expenses beyond the stipend. The scholarship covers both major study and Chinese language preparatory study where that is part of your approved plan — preparatory language study normally lasts one year — but it does not extend automatically beyond the approved duration of your programme.

Programmes, Universities and Fields

Designated Chinese universities offer scholarship recipients programmes across a wide range of disciplines — CSC’s programme description lists science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, economics, law, management, education, history, literature, philosophy and fine arts among them. Undergraduate scholarship recipients must register for Chinese-taught credit courses. Graduate and non-degree scholarship students may register for either Chinese-taught or English-taught programmes where those are available. You can search programmes and participating universities through the official Campus China portal linked from CSC, and compare how Chinese universities perform in our global university rankings before you name your preferences.

One strategic reality of Type A: placement. Candidates who hold an admission letter (pre-admission notice) from a target university will be placed in that university; candidates without one should accept CSC’s placement. That makes the pre-admission step in the procedure below genuinely valuable — it is the difference between choosing your university and being assigned one. Take it seriously, and approach universities early enough for them to review your file and issue the notice before your dispatching authority’s deadline.

How to Apply for CSC Type A: Step by Step

1. Find your dispatching authority and read your country’s call. Identify the authority responsible for overseas-study dispatching in your country and obtain its instructions for the current cycle: categories offered, quota, internal deadline, document list and the Agency Number you will need. Chinese embassy and consulate websites in your country often publish or link the call — the embassy notice format for 2026/2027 shows the pattern: eligibility, categories and a firm submission date for that country.
2. Confirm you are eligible — category, age, language, CSCA if applicable. Check your age against the category ceiling, your qualification against the requirement, and your HSK / English evidence against the teaching language. Undergraduate applicants: confirm whether a CSCA score report is required this cycle.
3. Contact target universities for a pre-admission notice. Once you know (or while you confirm) that you can be recommended, approach the Chinese universities you hope to attend, following each university’s instructions for CSC Type A pre-admission. Universities typically ask for the same core documents listed below. A pre-admission notice secures your placement at that university if you are awarded the scholarship.
4. Complete the CSC online application. Go to the CSC Online Application System for International Students via Campus China (campuschina.org), register, select the Bilateral Programme (Type A), enter the Agency Number given by your dispatching authority — not a university’s number — complete the Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship carefully, and submit it online.
5. Submit the full document package to your dispatching authority before its deadline. CSC’s published procedure is explicit: a package of complete application documents must be submitted to the dispatching authorities in your home country before the deadline, and only applications recommended by the dispatching authorities will be considered. In past published instructions this package was requested in duplicate — follow your authority’s current instruction on copies and format.
6. Recommendation, CSC review and placement. Your dispatching authority recommends candidates to CSC. CSC reviews the recommended applications and finalises placements — to your pre-admission university if you hold its admission letter, otherwise by CSC’s placement.
7. Result, admission documents and visa. Successful candidates receive admission documents through the official channel. You then apply for the appropriate Chinese study visa with those documents. A scholarship award does not itself grant a visa — the visa decision rests with the Chinese embassy or consulate, and nothing in this process can be guaranteed in advance.

Required Documents

CSC’s published Bilateral Programme document list is the baseline; your dispatching authority and target university may add items, so treat your country’s checklist as final. Prepare:

• Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship — completed online in Chinese or English through the CSC system, submitted electronically (and printed where your authority requires a hard copy).
• Copy of your passport home page — valid for travel and study; universities commonly ask that it remain valid well beyond your application date.
• Notarised highest diploma (photocopy) — prospective graduates who have not yet received their diploma must submit official proof of student status from their current school. Documents in languages other than Chinese or English must be accompanied by notarised Chinese or English translations.
• Academic transcripts — for the qualification(s) relevant to your category, with notarised Chinese or English translations where the originals are in another language.
• Study plan or research proposal — a clear statement of what you will study or research in China and why; research applicants should make the proposal specific enough for academic review.
• Recommendation letters — for postgraduate and scholar applicants, from professors or associate professors who know your academic work.
• Language proficiency certificates — HSK for Chinese-taught programmes at the level your category requires; IELTS / TOEFL or other accepted English evidence for English-taught programmes.
• CSCA score report — for undergraduate applicants where the current cycle requires it, as flagged in recent embassy guidance.
• Foreigner Physical Examination Form — completed by a physician following the official form, within its validity period.
• Non-criminal record certificate — where required by the dispatching authority or university, obtained in time to still be valid at submission.
• Pre-admission notice / admission letter — from your target Chinese university, if you have obtained one (strongly recommended, as it determines placement).

Names, dates of birth and passport numbers must match exactly across the online form, your passport, certificates and translations. Mismatches between the CSC system entry and your documents are a recurring cause of files stalling at review.

Deadlines and Timeline

Because the 2027 country calls are published country by country, there is no single honest “CSC Type A deadline” anyone can give you in the abstract — anyone who quotes you one date for all countries is guessing. Your date is the one in your dispatching authority’s notice. Track the official channels from November onwards so you see your country’s call the week it appears, and use a deadline tracker from our tools directory to work backwards through notarisation, translation, medical examination and police certificate lead times.

Selection: How Type A Candidates Are Chosen, and How to Strengthen Your File

Selection happens twice. First, your dispatching authority compares you against other candidates from your country for a limited quota — it is applying both CSC’s eligibility rules and your country’s own priorities under its bilateral agreement. Second, CSC and the universities review recommended files for eligibility, academic suitability and placement. You cannot control the quota, but you can control how easy your file is to recommend:

• Be unambiguously eligible. Age, qualification and language evidence that clearly satisfy the published rules, with certificates valid and in date. Borderline files are the first to be set aside in a quota process.
• Secure a pre-admission notice. It demonstrates a university already wants you, and it fixes your placement. This is the single highest-value extra step in Type A.
• Write a study plan with a bilateral logic. Type A exists to build cooperation between China and your country. A plan that connects your study to a field your country needs, and to collaboration with China, speaks the programme’s language — keep it concrete and honest.
• Show academic strength in the relevant discipline. Transcripts, ranking in your cohort where documented, research output for doctoral and senior scholar applicants, and recommendation letters that give specific evidence rather than general praise.
• Make the package flawless. Complete, notarised, translated, consistent and on time. In a national quota process, an incomplete file does not get the benefit of the doubt.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Applying to CSC as an individual. CSC does not accept individual Type A applications. Without a dispatching-authority recommendation, your file will not be considered — however complete it is.
• Using the wrong Agency Number. Type A uses the number provided by your dispatching authority. A university’s five-digit number belongs to Type B. Mixing them misroutes your application.
• Assuming your country has places in your category. Categories follow bilateral arrangements and vary by country and year. Confirm before you prepare documents.
• Missing the national deadline while watching the general window. CSC’s early-January to early-April window is general guidance; your authority’s deadline (sometimes mid-February) is decisive.
• Skipping the pre-admission step. Without an admission letter, CSC places you — you lose control over your university and programme fit.
• Weak language evidence. No valid HSK at the required level for a Chinese-taught programme, or missing English test evidence for an English-taught programme, is a straightforward ground for rejection.
• Unnotarised or untranslated documents. Diplomas and transcripts in other languages need notarised Chinese or English translations, exactly as CSC’s document list states.
• Budgeting as if every award is full. If your country receives partial scholarships, only some items are covered. Read your allocation and offer letter before you commit.
• Paying intermediaries who promise a quota place. Recommendations are made by official authorities. No agent can sell you one, and a purchased “guarantee” is a warning sign, not a service.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between CSC Type A and Type B?

Type A is the Bilateral Programme: you apply through your home country’s dispatching authority, which recommends candidates under a bilateral agreement, using the authority’s Agency Number. Type B is the Chinese University Programme: you apply directly to a participating university, which nominates you to CSC. The scholarship coverage for full awards follows the same published standards, but the route, gatekeeper and Agency Number are completely different.

Can I apply for CSC Type A directly on campuschina.org?

You complete the online form on the CSC system as part of the process, but that alone is not an application. Only candidates recommended by their dispatching authority are considered, and the full document package must be submitted to that authority by its deadline. CSC states it does not accept individual applications outside this channel.

How much stipend does CSC Type A pay?

For a full scholarship, CSC’s published standards are CNY 2,500 per month for undergraduates, CNY 3,000 per month for master’s students and general scholars, and CNY 3,500 per month for doctoral students and senior scholars, plus a tuition waiver, free dormitory or an accommodation subsidy (CNY 700 or CNY 1,000 per month depending on level), and comprehensive medical insurance at CNY 800 per year. A partial scholarship covers only some of these items.

What is the Agency Number for Type A, and where do I get it?

The Agency Number identifies the receiving organisation in the CSC system. For Type A, you obtain it from your dispatching authority — CSC’s instructions direct applicants to consult the authority for both the system instructions and the number. Do not copy a university’s Agency Number into a Type A application.

When is the CSC Type A deadline for 2027?

CSC’s general guidance is to apply between early January and early April, consulting the dispatching authority for the specific deadline each year. Country deadlines vary — an embassy notice for the 2026/2027 cycle, for example, required submission by 14 February 2026 for that country. Your binding deadline is the one your own authority publishes for 2027.

Do I need HSK for CSC Type A?

If your programme is taught in Chinese, yes — a valid HSK certificate at the required level (recent guidance: HSK Level 4 for Chinese-taught master’s and doctoral programmes, HSK Level 3 for general and senior scholar programmes, with undergraduates advised to confirm the current level). English-taught programmes instead require the English proficiency evidence the programme specifies, such as IELTS or TOEFL. Undergraduate applicants should also check whether a CSCA score report is required in the current cycle.

Can I choose my university under Type A?

Partly. If you obtain an admission letter or pre-admission notice from a target university, CSC’s published procedure says you will be placed in that university. Without one, you accept CSC’s placement. Applying to universities early for pre-admission is therefore strongly recommended.

Does a CSC Type A award guarantee my Chinese visa?

No. The scholarship and the visa are separate decisions. You apply for a study visa with your admission documents through the Chinese embassy or consulate, which decides the visa application. Nothing in the scholarship process guarantees admission or visa approval.

Sources and Verification

The facts in this guide were checked against official sources at the time of writing:

• China Scholarship Council / Campus China (campuschina.org) — Bilateral Programme description, coverage, eligibility and application procedure, as reproduced on official pages including the Henan provincial government Bilateral Program page.
• Central South University, International College — CSC Scholarship Type A guidance (eligibility ages, procedure, pre-admission and placement rules).
• Embassy of China — 2026/2027 Chinese Government Scholarship Application notice (recent-cycle eligibility wording, HSK levels, CSCA note for undergraduates, country-specific deadline example).
• University Bilateral Programme pages reproducing CSC’s coverage (tuition, dormitory or CNY 700 / CNY 1,000 accommodation subsidy, stipend levels, CNY 800 / CNY 400 insurance).

Disclaimer: Scholarship details, quotas, categories, deadlines and amounts change with each cycle and vary by country under bilateral agreements. Always confirm deadlines, amounts and eligibility on the official Campus China website, with your dispatching authority, and with the Chinese embassy in your country before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, a dispatching authority or CSC; we cannot recommend or place you, and nothing in this guide promises selection, admission or visa approval.