To implement the important instruction of General Secretary Xi jinping on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus epidemic as well as the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and to cooperate with the epidemic prevention and control, China Scholarship Council (CSC), taking into consideration the current situation, decided to make changes to some government sponsored study abroad programs for the first half of 2020, and hereby issue the following notice: 

1. The admission list of government-sponsored senior research fellows, visiting scholars, and postdoctoral scholars will be publicized in late April (provisional). 

2. The implementation of the government-sponsored study abroad programs for graduates from high-level public universities and the special training project of art talents will be postponed for one month (provisional). With this change, the online registration will start from April 10 to 30; the deadline for the submission of application materials will be before May 12, and the admission results will be announced in late June. The applicant shall confirm his or her admission with the foreign inviting party before registering online to avoid a situation where the admission notice or invitation letter becomes automatically invalid due to delays in admission. 

Applicants who are unable to obtain on time the required foreign language proficiency certificate due to the coronavirus epidemic will be allowed to apply online for the above projects first. Once admitted however, they need to obtain the foreign language proficiency certificate before being dispatched abroad. 

The rescheduling of the government-sponsored study abroad programs for graduates from high-level public universities covers all channels under the project, including the “cooperation channel(s) of the unit or applicant” and the “existing cooperation channels of CSC”. 

3. The implementation of the special project on the training of talents for the western region and local cooperation projects will be postponed for one month (provisional). With the rescheduling, the online registration will start from May 1 to 15, the deadline for the submission of application materials will be before May 22, and the admission results will be announced in August.

4. The study abroad program for the first batch of young backbone teachers has been cancelled, and the application and admission of the second batch remain unchanged. 

5. The implementation of the research project on the regional issues in the world and the training of high-level foreign language talents will be postponed for one month (provisional). With the change, the online registration will start from April 20 to 30, the deadline for the submission of application materials will be before May 12, and the admission results will be announced in late June.  

6. The deadline for the 2020 supplementary application for the international cooperation project on the training of innovative talents will be changed from March 10 to April 30. The approved projects will be announced in June. 

7. The implementation of certain foreign cooperation projects and Sino-foreign cooperative scholarships will be postponed. For details, please refer to the attachment. 

8. Any other changes to the implementation of government-sponsored study abroad programs will be released on the website of CSC timely. 

Relevant processing units, recommending units and educational offices (groups) of embassies (consulates) abroad shall arrange their work as per the notice, and we will no longer issue the notice separately.  

Attachment: List of changed government-sponsored study abroad projects in 2020

China Scholarship Council