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Funding offered by UCL and the China Scholarships Council (CSC) aims to expand the educational, cultural, and technological co-operation between the UK and China.
Eligibility
Please note that the following eligibility requirements are subject to change and that you should check directly with the CSC for the latest information.
- Candidates will be citizens and permanent residents of the People’s Republic of China at the time of application.
- Candidates must be prospective or current first-year PhD students only.
- Candidates must satisfy the selection criteria relating to current study and employment as set out by the CSC on their website.
- Successful candidates must return to China upon completion of their studies and/or research.
- Candidates must hold an unconditional offer letter from UCL. They must, therefore, fulfil the relevant academic entry requirements set by UCL, including a high level of English language proficiency.
- Candidates should be intending to pursue study/research in one of the priority academic areas identified by UCL and CSC. However, applicants to other study/research areas will also be considered.
- Candidates must have secured or submitted an application for fee funding for MPhil/PhD research at UCL (see How to Apply section below).
- Candidates should satisfy the selection criteria set out by CSC by completing the CSC application and employer reference forms.
Value, benefits, and duration
The scholarships are co-funded by the CSC and UCL. The CSC provides economy air travel to and from the UK, visa application fees, and an annual living allowance (currently set at a rate of £1,350 per month).
UCL will provide full tuition fees for the standard duration of a full-time MPhil/PhD programme, this is normally 3 years (subject to sufficient academic progress). Where students are undertaking an integrated doctoral programme with a standard research length of four years, the UCL fee award will be extended to the 4th year of research.
For current students that are awarded a CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarship, the funding will begin at the start of the next full academic year and cover the remaining standard length of research years of their programme.
Selection
Scholarships are awarded on academic merit and the basis of CSC priorities.
How to apply
Candidates must first apply for tuition fee funding from UCL before submitting an application for co-funding to the CSC. Please note that when applying for co-funding, students should use the CSC's 'Collaborative channel' and not the 'personal channel'. Application instructions for each priority area are detailed below:
Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences
10 awards are available for students intending to pursue research within the Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences. You must apply for fee funding under the Faculty's Dean's Prize scheme by Wednesday, 15th January 2025 in order to be considered.
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society
1 award is available for students intending to pursue research within the IOE. Candidates will need to fulfil eligibility requirements as stated above. Please note that prospective students will need to have received an unconditional offer before they can apply for this award. Full application instructions can be found on the RES web page.
All documents should be submitted to IOEinternational@ucl.ac.uk by Wednesday, 15th January 2025.
Other subject areas
5 awards are available for students intending to pursue research in any subject area in accordance with the CSC’s priorities, including the Mathematical & Physical Sciences and IOE. In order to be considered for one of these 5 CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarships candidates must first submit an application for the UCL Research Excellence Scholarship (RES) before submitting an application to the CSC. UCL will then select its five CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholars from the pool of students that applied to the RES. Full application instructions can be found on the RES web page. The deadline for applications is Friday, 10th January 2025.
Successful tuition fee funding recipients under the above three priority areas will be notified of their provisional funding in early March. Recipients must then submit a separate application to the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for co-funding.
Please note: Visiting students should please note that tuition fees for their time at UCL are not covered as standard by their CSC award. Students would need to secure alternative sponsorship for their fees i.e. from an external body or from their academic department.
Results
The CSC will publish the results of the scholarship, for those who submitted their application for co-funding, in June 2025. To view the outcome, please log into your CSC application portal.