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English-taught programmes in China: the legal basis in Order No. 42, Articles 18 and 19

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Chinese universities may teach degrees in English under Order No. 42, Article 19, which lets higher education institutions that have the conditions open professional courses taught in a foreign language for international students. Article 18 makes Chinese the basic teaching language and allows a school to offer remedial help when an international student's Chinese does not meet the study requirements. For an applicant, the practical point is that an English-taught option exists only where a university decides it has the conditions and opens such a course, and the university itself sets the language requirement.

The Chinese provisions cited below are rendered in English as this site's own translation of the Chinese text.

What Order No. 42 says

Order No. 42 of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security (Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students) sets the frame.

Article 18: the common spoken and written language of the People's Republic of China is the basic teaching language for higher education institutions in cultivating international students. For international students whose level of the national common language does not meet the study requirements, the school may provide necessary remedial conditions (Order No. 42, Article 18).

Article 19: higher education institutions that have the conditions may open professional courses taught using a foreign language for international students. An international student receiving a higher-education qualification in a foreign language may write the degree thesis in the corresponding foreign language, but the thesis abstract shall be in Chinese; whether the thesis defence uses a foreign language is determined by the school (Order No. 42, Article 19).

The word "may" matters. Article 19 permits foreign-language teaching; it does not require any university to offer it, and Order No. 42, Article 19 names no university, programme, language test or passing score.

What the Quality Standards add

The Quality Standards for the Higher Education of International Students in China (Trial), issued by the Ministry of Education, address what a university must state about language ability.

Section 1.2: for disciplines and majors whose professional teaching language is Chinese, the Chinese-language ability requirement in the admission standards for international students in China shall be at least Level 4 of the International Chinese Proficiency Standards. For disciplines and majors whose professional teaching language is a foreign language, higher education institutions shall clearly specify in their admission standards for international students the required foreign-language ability (Quality Standards, section 1.2).

So the university, not the central standards, sets the specific foreign-language requirement for a foreign-language-taught major. Section 1.2 states no specific foreign-language level, test or score; it requires the university to state the ability it requires.

What this means for an applicant

What language ability you must show for an English-taught programme is set by the university in its own admission standards (Quality Standards, section 1.2). Order No. 42, Article 18 names no university, programme, language test or passing score. Order No. 42, Article 19 names no university, programme, language test or passing score. The Quality Standards, section 1.2, name no university, programme, language test or score. The university's admissions brochure is where a programme and its teaching language are stated.

As a planning suggestion, shortlist universities whose admissions brochure states an English-taught programme and its language requirement before you commit to an application. This is a suggestion, not a requirement.

For the steps to prepare an application, see the application guide.

If you apply under the Chinese Government Scholarship

The conditions below belong to that scholarship and are not general admission rules for self-funded students.

When applying for a programme taught in a language other than Chinese, an applicant must meet the admission requirements of the university of preference in terms of language proficiency and academic ability, among others (Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship, section IV, item 11).

Applicants for programmes taught in other languages must provide relevant language-proficiency certificates, such as IELTS or TOEFL score reports, in accordance with the requirements of each university (Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship, section VI, item 5).

None of sections I to VI of the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship gives a language requirement that applies to students who are not CGS applicants. For scholarship funding routes, see the funding overview.

A note on the Ministry's 2009 page

The Ministry's 2009 page on language of instruction, dated 17 September 2009, says Chinese institutions of higher education generally use Chinese as the language of instruction, and that in some institutions some courses for visiting and senior visiting scholars and postgraduate students can be conducted in English. It adds that applicants with no command of Chinese are generally required to take Chinese-language courses for one to two years before major studies. The page is dated, and the application receiving authority sets the dates that apply now.

Questions people ask

May any Chinese university teach in English?

Order No. 42, Article 19 lets higher education institutions that have the conditions open foreign-language-taught professional courses for international students. It does not require any university to do so, and it names no university. Whether a given university offers such courses is the university's decision, stated in its admissions brochure.

Do I need to know Chinese for an English-taught programme?

Article 18 makes Chinese the basic teaching language but allows a school to offer remedial help, and it sets no Chinese level that an international student must reach for a foreign-language-taught course. The Quality Standards, section 1.2, require the university to state the foreign-language ability for a foreign-language-taught major and state no Chinese level for that major.

Does the government publish a list of English-taught programmes?

Order No. 42, Article 18 names no list of programmes. Order No. 42, Article 19 names no list of programmes. The Quality Standards, section 1.2, names no such list. None of sections I to VI of the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship names a list of English-taught programmes. Each university states its own programmes and their teaching language in its admissions brochure.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026

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

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