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Who may enrol international graduate students in China: universities, research institutes and the filing rule

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Under Order No. 42, a higher education institution that has the corresponding education and teaching conditions and training capacity enrols international students on its own authority in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State (Article 7), and must file with the education administration department of the State Council in accordance with the matters and procedures that department prescribes (Article 8). Approved scientific research institutions in China that carry out graduate education tasks follow the same Measures when they recruit international students (Article 46). None of the official texts quoted on this page names individual universities or institutes, and none of them contains a list.

The Chinese texts are quoted as published; the English wording on this page is this site's own translation.

What the rule actually turns on

Enrolment is not tied to a published register here. It turns on three things that sit in different documents: the institution's own conditions and its filing (Order No. 42), its status as a degree-awarding institution for that discipline (Degree Law), and whether the major is one the State allows to be opened to foreign nationals (Quality Standards, section 4).

Question Text that answers it
Who may enrol, and on what authority Order No. 42, Articles 7 and 8
Who decides the enrolment plan and the majors Order No. 42, Article 10
Do research institutes count Order No. 42, Article 46
Who may award the master's or doctoral degree Degree Law, Articles 5 and 13
Which majors may be opened to international students Quality Standards, section 4

What a university must have and do

Order No. 42 sets the entry conditions in one sentence. The institution must have the corresponding education and teaching conditions and training capacity, and it enrols on its own authority under the relevant provisions of the State (Article 7). It then files with the education administration department of the State Council, following the matters and procedures that department prescribes (Article 8).

The same Measures give the institution control over the shape of its intake: a higher education institution determines its own international student enrolment plan and its own majors according to its school-running conditions and training capacity, except where the State provides otherwise (Article 10). Chapters 2 to 5 of the Measures apply to higher education institutions (Article 2), and the Measures came into force on 1 July 2017 (Article 48).

One boundary is worth noting before you read further: Article 46 places the recruitment, education and management of students from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and the Taiwan region under other relevant provisions of the State.

Research institutes

Article 46 covers scientific research institutions in China that have been approved to carry out graduate education tasks: when they recruit international students, they proceed under these Measures. The same article adds that education institutions approved by the education administration department to provide non-degree education handle international students by reference to these Measures.

The degree-awarding side

Recruiting a student and awarding the degree are two separate questions, and the Degree Law answers the second one. Higher education institutions and scientific research institutions that have, upon approval, obtained degree-awarding qualification for the corresponding discipline or major are degree-awarding institutions; the disciplines or majors in which they award degrees are degree-awarding points, and a degree-awarding institution may award the corresponding degree in accordance with the Law (Article 5).

Article 13 sets the route to that status: higher education institutions and scientific research institutions that lawfully provide undergraduate education and graduate education and meet the conditions set out in Article 12 of the Law may apply for master's and doctoral degree-awarding qualification. The Law has been in force since 1 January 2025 (Article 45), and each degree-awarding institution publishes its own detailed standards (Article 22).

The major itself

Quality Standards, section 4, governs what may be offered to international students. A higher education institution sets and adjusts its majors for international students in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, and the length of study for international student education must conform to the provisions of the basic system of national higher education. The majors in which it recruits international students must belong to a discipline, or professional degree category, for which the institution holds the corresponding degree-awarding right, and must be majors that the State provides may be opened to the outside. For medicine and other majors that bear directly on personal health and on the safety of life and property, the institution must also meet the relevant provisions, special standards or norms of the State for international student education in that major.

These are trial standards addressed to higher education institutions. They state what an institution must set, publish or do; they are not a catalogue of programmes.

What follows for your shortlist

  • The documents give the test, not the answer sheet. Enrolment follows from the institution's conditions, its filing, its degree-awarding status in that discipline and the major being one the State allows to be opened; the texts do not attach names to that test.
  • Admission itself, the programmes on offer, application dates, fees, language proof and length of study are the university's decision, published in its own admissions brochure. This site does not state or guess any university's requirement, date, fee or programme.
  • A suggestion, not a rule: when you compare two programmes, read the brochure for the major you want rather than for the institution as a whole, because section 4 of the Quality Standards ties the offer to the discipline and to the degree-awarding right behind it.

Questions people ask

Do the regulations publish a list of universities that may enrol international students?

No list appears in the texts quoted on this page. Order No. 42 states the conditions an institution must meet and the filing it must carry out (Articles 7 and 8); it does not name institutions.

Can a research institute take an international master's or doctoral student?

Yes, on the terms of Article 46 of Order No. 42: an approved scientific research institution in China that carries out graduate education tasks handles international student recruitment under these Measures. Degree-awarding status is then a separate question under the Degree Law, Articles 5 and 13.

May a university enrol international students in any major it teaches?

Not any major. Under Quality Standards, section 4, the major must fall within a discipline or professional degree category for which the institution holds the corresponding degree-awarding right, and must be one the State provides may be opened to the outside. Medicine and similar majors carry additional national requirements.

Where do I find the entry requirements, the deadline and the fees?

In the admissions brochure of the university handling your case. Admission, programmes, dates, fees, language proof and length of study are the university's own decision, published by that university; the provisions quoted on this page do not cover them.

Sources

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.

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