The best time for foreign student to apply for Chinese university
Chinese full-time universities’ school year contains two semesters (except for a few ones that start trial implementation of 3-semester system). The first semester starts on autumn of each year; and the second semester starts on spring. Student studies 5 days a week, each semester lasts about 20 weeks.
Spring semester
Courses offered in spring semester usually are Chinese language training, short-term cultural, medical training, and the like. Spring semester starts on early March of each year; the application usually starts on Sept. or Oct. of the previous year and closes in mid-January of current year. The application deadline of some universities is at the end of December of previous year.
Autumn semester
Courses offered in autumn semester are usually degree programs, Chinese foundation program, short-term Chinese language training, and other short-term training programs (Cultural, Medical trainings and so on). Autumn semester starts on Sept. of each year; Application usually starts at the beginning of March and closes before mid-Jul. The deadline of some universities is at the end of June, nevertheless in some universities, the deadline is extended to the end of August.
In addition, most Chinese universities’ Chinese language courses accepts application throughout the year, the foreign students can apply at any time.
That the specific date to apply, especially the application date of short-term training programs, please refers to each university’s official website.
Time Arrangement for Study in China (Our suggestions)
Application for course offered in Spring Semester
Sept. to Oct. of the current year: Submitting the Application
Nov. to Dec. of the current year: Waiting for admission result and JW202 form issuing
Jan of the next year: Waiting for receiving the Admission materials mailed
Feb. of the next year: Applying for visa and preparing for going to university (Luggage, Air Tickets, Accommodation, etc.)
For short-term(less than 6 months) Chinese language or other training program students, the university usually will not issue JW202 form, and will not mail original admission notice, instead, most universities will send student canned copy of admission notice, so student can apply for tourist (L) visa or visitor’s （F） visa to come to the university. The student should contact the university in time when scanned copies of admission notice, letter of invitation are required for applying for atourist (L) visa or visitor’s (F) visa.
Application for course offered in Autumn Semester
March to April: Submitting the Application
May to June: Waiting for admission result and form JW202 issuing
July: Waiting for receiving the Admission materials mailed
August: Applying for visa and preparing for going to university (Luggage, Air Tickets, Accommodation, etc.)
September: Going to university
When applying for a Chinese university, the earlier, the better, so that, on one hand, there will be enough time for you to prepare for materials that are required for your application; on the other hand, there will be more time left for you to deal with emergency cases that may happen during the application. For example, the correspondence address that some students provide are not specific enough so that admission documents cannot arrive at the right place to be collected, thus impacting the registration time of the university in which they are enrolled, as well as missing other universities’ application time, especially for those who applied for only one university, much more time should be guaranteed for the application so as to make a considerable plan.
How foreign students apply for Chinese university
The ways that foreign students apply for Chinese university are almost the same with ones which are commonly used in global international students flow.
1. Apply through agent
Agents in student’s own countries
Students can contact legal agents in their own country through approaches such as networks or advertisements and so on of these kinds, and ask them to help apply for Chinese universities by paying a certain amount of fees, including registration fee of the university and service charge.
Advantages
It will be easier in communication due to speaking the same language and living in the same place.
Disadvantage
The agents may be not clear enough about information of Chinese universities; and charges comparably higher fees.
Agents in China
The students can find legal agents in China through internet or friends recommendations, and ask them to help you apply for Chinese universities by paying a certain amount of fees, including registration fee of the university and service charge.
Advantages
The agents know more about Chinese universities and cities so they can provide students with specific information, while they charge less than that of the agents in students’ own countries
Disadvantages
There will be some barriers existed in communication due to time, and the language spoken is not the mother language of the students.
2. Apply by students themselves
Go to the university and apply by students themselves
Students can go to the university and submit the application in accord with requirements on university’s official website by themselves after getting application documents ready. So they can look around the university, get familiar with university campus directly and experience the atmosphere of the university. While the disadvantage is that it can waste too much of your time This kind of approach is more suitable for international students who have been living in China.
Fax or mail the application documents to university by students themselves
The students submit the documents in accord with requirements on university official website to the international students admission office of the university through fax or mail. This kind of application is easy to cause the application documents lost or damaged, also it costs lots of time, so usually it is not recommended.
Appoint friends in the university to submit application.
The students can submit their applications with a help of their friends who are studying in the university, since they are students of the university, they will be clearer about the documents required, office location and responsible person.
Apply online on university official website (part of universities)
So far part of Chinese universities provides online application system, students can submit their application online after fill in the necessary information, also they can track the admission processing and result.
3. Intercollegiate exchange (Exchange students)
According to the exchange agreement between Chinese universities and overseas universities, students can be sent to study, explore and research in each university majored in same field as exchange students. Exchange students can choose to study in the universities that have academic connection with the current ones in which they are studying, about the details, the universities will make relevant decision.
What should be considered when choosing Chinese universities
When choosing Chinese universities, it is necessary to take the preferred profession, purpose of studying in China, self-capacity, future career direction and so on the like factors into consideration. Student should comprehensively consider both university conditions and self qualifications, so as to choose suitable Chinese university for yourself reasonably.
The following factors can be considered when choosing Chinese universities
1. Strong comprehensive strength
2. Good international reputation (Diploma of the university has high global approval)
3. Public praise and rankings ( the university is in top list, enjoys good public praise)
4. High profession standard (National keynote discipline, outstanding research achievement)
5. Good facilities for profession study(Closely combined theory and practice profession, for example, Medical profession are equipped with instruments and equipments used in clinical operation)
6. Perspective employment and plenty of internship opportunities (in-depth and wide ranged cooperation with well-know enterprises home and abroad.
Making reasonable assessment about self qualifications
Students' graduation result
Students’ graduation results provided during the application is key reference for the university to decide admit or not. The stronger comprehensive strength and better reputation the university has, the more strict requirement for student’s graduation result will be.
Economy conditions
The cost of the study in China is relatively cheap, while daily expenses are not exactly the same in different areas. In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other developed coastal cities, the daily expenses can be relatively higher than that of inland. These cities’ living conditions are relatively higher, entertainment and recreational facilities are rich, so the cost is relatively higher. Therefore, when choosing universities, student take the economy conditions into account.
Location preference
China is a large country, the northern and southern China has many differences in climate and diet custom, each city has its own characteristics. The student sometime needs to consider that whether the climate conditions, traffic, diet, culture and so on of the city that university lies in are as expected before applying, so as to choose suitable universities
Which is more important when choosing universities, professional strength or comprehensive strength?
When choosing universities, students sometimes get stuck in the situation that which one is prior to be chose between professional strength and comprehensive strength. There is no absolutely answer actually. In China, universities can be divided into comprehensive and professional two kinds. The comprehensive universities have complete disciplines, set up disciplines in both liberal arts and science, it is large in school running scale and strong in scientific research; while the professional universities have less but centralized disciplines compared with that of the comprehensive ones, it is strong in specific profession. Usually, professional university doesn’t have very large campus, while student activities in the university are usually full of strong professional elements. If you want to be better in profession study and research and make achievement in professional field, we suggest you to consider professional kind of university.
While if you want to get diploma of a university which is comprehensive strength strong and well-known, the comprehensive kind of university maybe better meet your demand.
General requirements for foreign students applying for Chinese Universities
1. Degree program application
1) Bachelor degree program application
General requirements：
A. Foreign citizen with valid passport, and in good health.
B. Aged from 18 to 30, a few universities accept applicants aged over 30.
C. Possessing senior school degree or above.
Language requirements:
General Chinese Language requirements for application to Chinese-instructed program
A. Old HSK6 (or new HSK5)or above is required for application of liberal arts, economics and management majored students.
B. Old HSK3 (or new HSK4) or above is required for application of science, engineering and medical science majored students.
C. For details please refer to requirements published by the university.
General English language requirements for application to English-instructed programs:
A. Free English Language testing for students from English speaking countries.
B. Free English Language testing for students from countries in which English is the major teaching language on condition that the relevant proof documents were provided.
C. TOEFL 550, IELTS 5.5 or Pass University’s entrance examination.
D. For details please refer to requirements published by the university.
2) Master degree program application
General requirements：
A. Foreign citizen with valid passport, and in good health.
B. Aged from 18-40, a few universities accept applicants aged over 40.
C. A bachelor degree diploma is required when applying for master degree.
D. The prgram and the profession applied for should be in same or similar fields.
Language requirements:
A. General Chinese Language requirements for application of Chinese-instructed programs:
B. Old HSK6(or new HSK5)or above is required for application of liberal arts, economics and management majored students
C. Old HSK3(or new HSK4) or above is required for application of science, engineering and medical science majored students
D. For details please refer to requirements published by the university
General English Language requirements for application of English-instructed programs:
A. Free English Language testing for students from English speaking countries.
B. Free English Language testing for students from countries in which English is used in class teaching on condition that the relevant proof documents were provided.
C. TOEFL 550 Points, IELTS 5.5 Points or pass through university’s entrance examination
D. For details please refer to requirements published by the university.
3) Doctor degree program application
General requirement:
A. Foreign citizen with valid passport, and in good health
B. Aged from 18-40, a few universities accept applicants aged over 40
C. A master degree diploma is required when applying for master degree courses; and the profession applied for should be in equal or similar fields.
Language requirements:
General Chinese Language requirements for application of Chinese-instructed course:
A. Old HSK6(or new HSK5)or above is required for application of liberal arts, economics and management majored students.
B. Old HSK3(or new HSK4) or above is required for application of science engineering and medical science majored students.
A good English proficiency is required for application of English-instructed courses, for details please refer to requirements published by the university.
2. Language programs and other training programs:
General requirements
A. Foreign citizen with valid passport, and in good health.
B. Aged from 18 to 60, a few universities accept applicants younger than 18 or older than 60.
3. Advanced students
1) General Advanced Study Application
General requirements:
A. Foreign citizen with valid passport, and in good health.
B. Aged from 18 to 45, but a few universities accept applicants over 60.
C. Applicant is required to hold diploma which is equal to Chinese senior school diploma, part of universities require applicants who have taken one or two year bachelor degree education.
Language requirements:
The old HSK6 (new HSK5) or above is required for application of Chinese-instructed courses. For details please refer to requirements published by the university.
A good English proficiency is required for application of English-instructed courses, For details please refer to requirements published by the university.
2) Senior advanced study application
General requirements:
A. Foreign citizen with valid passport, and in good health.
B. Aged from 18 to50, but a few universities accept applicants over 50.
C. Applicant is required to hold diploma which is equal to bachelor degree diploma of Chinese universities.
Language requirements:
The old HSK6 (new HSK5) or above is required for application of Chinese-instructed courses. For details please refer to requirements published by the university.
A good English proficiency is required for application of English-instructed courses, for details please refer to requirements published by the university.
