Why China has no national application deadline for graduate programmes

There is no national application deadline for master's or doctoral study in mainland China. Each university sets its own admissions plan and publishes an admissions brochure, and that brochure must include the application time limit and the admission schedule (Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students, Order No. 42, Articles 10 and 11; Quality Standards for the Higher Education of International Students in China (Trial), section 2.1).

The English wording in this article is this site's translation of the Chinese text.

Why there is no single date

A university determines its own international student admissions plan and programmes according to its schooling conditions and training capacity (Order No. 42, Article 10). The same university formulates and publishes its own international student admissions brochure, and admits international students under the conditions and procedures stated in that brochure (Order No. 42, Article 11). Because the plan and the dates are the university's own decision, no single national deadline applies across universities.

What a university's brochure must show

A university shall provide admissions information that includes the admissions procedure and admission requirements, such as the application time limit and method, admission standards, assessment method, financial guarantee requirement, breach-of-rules handling, and the admission schedule (Quality Standards for the Higher Education of International Students in China (Trial), section 2.1). The application time limit and the admission schedule are therefore items each university publishes in its own brochure. No university's specific date is stated here, because each university sets its own.

Chinese Government Scholarship

None of sections I to VI of the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship gives an application deadline.

For a date, the Ministry's 2009 page (dated 17 September 2009) says: "The period for recruiting international student under Chinese Government Scholarship Programmes is normally from the beginning of January to the end of April. Details on application procedures are determined by the consultation between Chinese diplomatic missions and the relevant authorities in the applicants' home country." That page is dated, and the dates that apply now are set by the application receiving authority in your home country. Applicants may contact the relevant authorities or Chinese diplomatic missions in their home countries for details (Application for the Scholarship of Chinese Government, Ministry of Education, 2009-09-17).

What to check

Suggestion: because each university sets its own dates, check the admissions brochure of the specific university you plan to apply to for its application time limit and admission schedule. For the Chinese Government Scholarship, contact the application receiving agency or Chinese diplomatic mission in your home country for the dates that apply to you. These are planning suggestions, not requirements.

Questions people ask

Is there one deadline for all universities in China?

No. Order No. 42 gives each university the responsibility to set its own admissions plan and publish its own brochure with the application time limit (Articles 10 and 11), and Quality Standards section 2.1 requires the brochure to include the application time limit and admission schedule.

Where do I find the deadline for the Chinese Government Scholarship?

The current Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship gives no application deadline in any of its sections I to VI. The Ministry's 2009 page gives the period "normally from the beginning of January to the end of April," but the dates that apply now are set by the application receiving authority in your home country; contact that authority or the Chinese diplomatic mission in your home country.

Do the Quality Standards set a national date?

No. Quality Standards section 2.1 requires a university's brochure to include the application time limit, but section 2.1 fixes no date at the national level.

Sources

• Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Order No. 42 of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security) — Ministry of Education of the PRC (moe.gov.cn)
• Quality Standards for the Higher Education of International Students in China (Trial) — Ministry of Education of the PRC (moe.gov.cn)
• Application for the Scholarship of Chinese Government (page dated 2009-09-17) — Ministry of Education of the PRC, English website (en.moe.gov.cn)
• Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship — China Scholarship Council (Campus China, campuschina.org)

Checked 11 October 2026

This page is an unofficial summary, is not published by or affiliated with the Ministry of Education, the China Scholarship Council, CHSI or any university, is not legal advice, and the official text and the current notice of the university or authority handling your case prevail if they differ.