Relevant Subunits,
As per the “Notice of Shanxi Scholarship Council on Organizing the Application for Studying Abroad with Provincial Public Fund Support in 2020, and the Application by Returned Overseas Personnel for the Research Projects Supported with Provincial Public Fund in 2020” (SSC Document [2020] No.1), we hereby issue the notice on organizing the application for studying abroad with provincial public fund support at TYUT in 2020:
I. Candidate Type and Study Duration
1. Senior research fellows: 3 – 6 months;
2. Visiting scholars: 3 – 12 months. Application for overseas study with a duration of less than 6 months will be limited to “cooperation projects”.
II. Prioritized Areas for Support
Areas prioritized for support include key industries essential for economic and social development, major projects, cutting-edge technologies, basic applied research, humanities and social sciences as specified in various development plans and implementation opinions such as Shanxi Educational Development, Science and Technology Innovation, Personnel System Reform, and Enterprise Technological Transformation etc.
In selecting candidates, priority will be given to high-level talents supported by various national and provincial talent programs; experts included in the expert databases of state ministries and commissions or provincial departments and bureaus; experts, scholars, technicians, teachers and researchers of benchmarking, model, competitive and pilot enterprises, or national or provincial key research and development bases, including key disciplines, programs, laboratories, engineering centers, technological centers, research centers, and clinical trial bases etc.; and teachers, researchers, medical staff, engineers and technicians who have been cooperating with countries along the belt and road lines; etc.
Those will be prioritized who apply for study or conducting cooperative research in the educational and research institutions of educationally and technologically advanced countries, or countries along the belt and road lines, such as famous universities, research institutes and laboratories etc. On equal conditions, applicants from key development sectors of Shanxi Province will be preferred, such as the “1331” and “136” key projects, the 14 iconic and leading industrial clusters, innovative ecological system, “energy revolution” and agricultural valley construction etc.
III. Support Categories and Projects
1. Full Sponsorship
The selected candidates will be sent abroad in the name of senior research fellows and visiting scholars. A total of 40 candidates will be selected.
2. Joint Sponsorship
“Research Team Cooperation Projects”: Candidates will be sent abroad in the name of senior research fellows and visiting scholars. 10 research teams with a total of about 40 people will be selected. The sponsorship period is 36 persons · months/team. Provincial public finance and the candidate research team’s unit will sponsor in a ratio of 1:3.
In view of Shanxi Province’s demand for top talents and the working reality of the candidates’ units, study and research teams consisting of 3 to 5 people will be selected to carry out special cooperation research abroad by using the existing cooperation channels between different institutions and based on the ongoing cooperation research projects. A “research team” shall consist of people who have the same or similar specialties, who have cooperated with each other before, and whose goals for studying abroad and research projects are consistent. And during their study abroad and after they return to China, they can continue to work with each other on their research. They can be sent abroad at the same time or separately. During their study abroad, at least one member in the team shall have a satisfactory command of English.
“Cooperation Project with Provincial Department of Education”: “Provincial Department of Education - CSC Higher Education Administration Project (with the entire class sent abroad)": candidates will be sent abroad in the name of visiting scholars. The sponsorship period is 3 months. A total of no more than 30 people will be selected. The destination country is Singapore, and the destination university Nanyang Technological University. Provincial public finance and the candidate’s unit will sponsor in a ratio of 1:3. The sponsorship includes tuition, and the tuition standard is about 3 months of living expenses (equivalent to the scholarship for overseas students at the government’s expenses). Capacity building project for backbone teachers of vocational education: The candidate will be sent abroad in the name of visiting scholars. The sponsorship period is in between 3 and 12 months. A total of no more than 10 people will be selected. Provincial public finance and the candidate’s unit will sponsor in a ratio of 1:3.
IV. Dispatching Channels
Candidates supported with provincial public fund to study abroad will be dispatched via two channels: the existing cooperation channels of the candidate’s unit or those of his or her own, and Provincial Department of Education - CSC Higher Education Administration.
V. Acceptance Conditions
1. Basic Requirements for Applicants
The applicant shall have good political quality, support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist road with Chinese characteristics, and love their motherland. He or she shall have good ideological and moral qualities as well as political qualities, and no record of law and discipline violations. He or she shall have both study competence and political integrity. He or she shall have a sense of dedication and responsibility and shall return to China to serve the construction of Shanxi after studying abroad. He or she shall have a correct outlook on the world, life and values. He or she shall have the nationality of the People’s Republic of China and not be a foreign permanent resident. Upon the submission of his or her application, the applicant shall be one of the regular staff of TYUT, with excellent performance, solid professional foundation and great development potential. He or she shall be 18 to 55 of age, healthy both physically and mentally. He or she shall meet the foreign language requirements for studying abroad supported by provincial public fund (Appendix 1) and the language requirements of the institution and country where he or she goes to study; and shall meet other requirements of the applied project.
If the applicant applies to study abroad as a senior research fellow or visiting scholar, the foreign language conditions can be relaxed to a certain degree. In case that an applicant’s command of the foreign language at the time of application does not meet the dispatch requirements, but he or she is strongly recommended by his or her affiliated unit, the applicant is also eligible to apply. He or she needs, however, to provide proofs of his or her command of the foreign language. Having passed the qualification review and been accepted, the applicant shall attend specified foreign language training or sit for exams such as WSK/TOEFL/IELTS etc. on his or her own. Only after the applicant meets the requirements for foreign language proficiency, can he or she be dispatched abroad. Applicants whose command of the foreign language is satisfactory will be preferred in the selection.
2. Acceptance Conditions for Senior Research Follows
The applicant shall be under 55 years of age (born after May 31, 1965), have a senior professional title or be a PhD supervisor, and meet at least one of the following conditions:
Being the leader of a teaching reform and technological innovation project at a key research and development base, such as key discipline, program, laboratory, engineering center, technological center, research center, and clinical trial base etc., or from a benchmarking, model, competitive and pilot enterprise; or the responsible person of a cooperation project with a “belt and road” country.
Being included in a talent program of provincial-level or above.
Having made outstanding achievements in teaching, scientific research, management, production or construction; having received awards of provincial level or above for teaching or scientific and technological achievements, or published nationally planned textbooks and high-ranking books, or academic papers with great impact and high citation in high-level academic journals at home or abroad, or had major scientific and technological inventions and obtained national patents, or recorded outstanding performance in production management and achieved significant economic and social benefits over the past five years.
Administrative personnel shall hold or have administrative positions as or above deputy director general, and their application shall not be affected by their professional titles.
3. Acceptance Conditions for Visiting Scholars
The applicant shall be under 50 years of age (born after May 31, 1970), with 5 years or more of working experience after graduating from an undergraduate program, and 2 years or more of working experience after graduating from Master’s degree program. There is no requirement for the number of working years for applicants who graduated with a Ph.D. The applicant could be one who has achieved excellent results in domestic and foreign sports events.
The foreign institution where the applicant applies to study shall be among the top 400 universities as ranked in the Times, or among top 200 universities as per the concerned disciplinary ESI ranking or an internationally famous university which has signed strategic cooperation agreement with TYUT. Any application that does not meet the above requirements will not be accepted, and the applicant will not be dispatched abroad.
Administrative personnel shall hold or have administrative positions as or above deputy director.
4. Acceptance Conditions for a “Research Team Cooperation Project”
3 – 5 project members, including the team leader, will be dispatched abroad. The team leader shall hold a senior professional title, with strong research and coordinating capacity, and shall be responsible for the research work of the project team abroad. Members of the project team shall be backbone professionals of their unit, with rich teaching and research experience, or strong technological innovation ability, and great growth potential. The project team shall have a clear goal, with each member assuming a certain area of work, with clearly assigned responsibility while ensuring a strong teamwork spirit. The selected project team shall comply with the basic requirement for dispatching categories (i.e. senior research fellows and visiting scholars).
Those who have applied to study abroad as a research team shall carry out their project closing defense as a team.
5. “Cooperation Project with Provincial Department of Education”, “Provincial Department of Education - CSC Higher Education Administration Project (with the entire class sent abroad)": The applicant shall be backbone professionals of TYUT who are currently engaged in talent training, research management, development planning and international cooperation etc.; comply with the basic requirement for dispatching categories (i.e. senior research fellows and visiting scholars); be under 50 years of age (born after May 31, 1970); and have passed the preliminary screening by Provincial Department of Education for application. Capacity building project for backbone teachers of vocational education: The applicant shall be a teacher affiliated to a vocational school in Shanxi Province; comply with the basic requirement for dispatching categories (i.e. senior research fellows and visiting scholars); have obtained the guarantee from his or her unit for providing fund support; and have passed the preliminary screening by Provincial Department of Education for application.
6. Applications from the following personnel will not accepted for now:
Those who have received full scholarship from a foreign institution; those who have obtained the qualification to study abroad with national or provincial public fund support, and the qualification is still valid; those who have obtained the qualification to study abroad with national and provincial public fund support, but have given up without the approval of China Scholarship Council or Shanxi Provincial Scholarship Council within the past 5 years; or have given up with the approval of China Scholarship Council or Shanxi Provincial Scholarship Council within the past 2 years; those who studied abroad in a local cooperation project (excluding the projects under which the entire class was sent abroad) supported by national or provincial public fund, and have less than 2 years of service after returning to China.
For project with special requirements, the relevant requirements shall be satisfied.
VI. Application Materials and Requirements
For details, please see attachment 2.
VII. Application Procedures
The applicant shall follow the requirements as stipulated in attachment 2 to submit the hard copy of all the required documents in duplicate to the Management Section of the International Cooperation Division (Room 201, Guojiao Building, Yingxi Campus) in between 8:30 May 27 and 18:00 May 28, 2020. A scanned copy of the application materials (in PDF format, named after “Studying Abroad with the Fund Support from Shanxi Provincial Public Fund + Reference Unit + Applicant Name”) shall be sent to ices@tyut.edu.cn.
VIII. Dispatchment and Administration
As for those who have been selected to study abroad, the management measure of “signing agreement before dispatchment and compensating for any breach of contract” shall be implemented. Before dispatchment, they shall sign and notarize the “Sponsored Studying Abroad Agreement”. During their study abroad, they shall abide by the laws and regulations of the host country, the relevant provisions on studying abroad with provincial public fund support as well as those of the “Sponsored Studying Abroad Agreement”. They shall voluntarily accept the administration of Chinese embassies (consulates) abroad and submit quarterly study reports to a third-party service agency entrusted by the Provincial Scholarly Council. After completing their study abroad, they shall return to Shanxi Province on time to fulfil their service duty. Those who fail to return to Shanxi Province and fulfill the service duty as per the provisions of the agreement or violate other provisions of the agreement shall be liable for breach of contract according to law
IX. Contact Information
Contact Person: Li Sumei
Phone: 0351-6010491
