Teaching and research assistant posts on campus: hours and pay rules for international students

International students at institutions of higher education in mainland China may take part in work-study (Order No. 42, Article 30), and on-campus posts may include teaching assistant and research assistant roles (2021 Measures, Article 7). They must not take employment, engage in business, or carry out other commercial activities (Order No. 42, Article 30). These on-campus posts are paid by the school — fixed posts by the month, temporary posts by the hour — and each university sets its own implementing rules (2021 Measures, Articles 8 and 4).

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

This page covers on-campus work-study only. Off-campus conditions and the residence-permit endorsement are on another page.

What on-campus posts are available

For international students' on-campus work-study, post setting should mainly be on-campus teaching assistant, research assistant, administrative assistant and school public-service posts. Post setting must both meet student needs and avoid occupying normal study time (2021 Measures, Article 7). The pay expenditure for on-campus work-study is arranged by the school as a whole (2021 Measures, Article 7).

How many hours may I work

Hours of work-study, on and off campus, are in principle no more than 8 hours per week and no more than 40 hours per month. During winter and summer vacations, in principle no more than 16 hours per week and no more than 80 hours per month (2021 Measures, Article 5).

What protections apply

The school must not arrange or authorise students to take part in toxic, harmful or dangerous production work, and must ensure that international students doing work-study have purchased insurance covering the work-study activity (2021 Measures, Article 6).

How is on-campus pay set

International-student work-study is paid by the following standards (2021 Measures, Article 8):

• On-campus fixed posts are paid by the month. The pay for 40 working hours a month is in principle not below the local minimum living guarantee standard, and may float up or down appropriately.
• On-campus temporary posts are paid by the hour. The hourly pay may reasonably be set by reference to the local minimum hourly wage set by the people's government where the school is located.

Article 8 also sets a pay standard for off-campus work-study; the off-campus conditions are on another page.

Who sets the detailed rules

International students' work-study activities proceed under the principles of having spare capacity for study, voluntary application, priority for those in financial difficulty, and observance of laws and discipline, and are carried out under the unified leadership and overall arrangement of the school (2021 Measures, Article 4). The school shall formulate relevant implementing rules, clarifying its own specific measures for international-student work-study and the responsibilities and powers of the relevant internal departments (2021 Measures, Article 4). The specific management provisions for international-student work-study are to be formulated separately by the education authority of the State Council together with relevant departments (Order No. 42, Article 30). The school should earnestly carry out its principal responsibility for managing international-student work-study, strengthen day-to-day education, inspection and tracking management, and regulate international students' on- and off-campus work-study activities (2021 Measures, Article 16).

Residence-permit endorsement

Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 16 of the 2021 Measures do not state whether an on-campus post requires a residence-permit endorsement. The off-campus conditions and the residence-permit endorsement are on another page.

Questions people ask

Do the hour limits change during vacations?

During winter and summer vacations, work-study hours are in principle no more than 16 hours per week and no more than 80 hours per month (2021 Measures, Article 5).

Who decides which posts exist at my university?

The school shall formulate its own implementing rules, clarifying its specific measures for international-student work-study and the responsibilities and powers of the relevant internal departments (2021 Measures, Article 4).

Sources

• Measures for the Administration of Work-Study by International Students at Higher Education Institutions (notice 教外厅〔2021〕2号) — Ministry of Education of the PRC
• Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Order No. 42) — Ministry of Education of the PRC

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.