Chinese Government Scholarship (CGS): How to Apply

Chinese Government Scholarship (CGS)

China's flagship government scholarship for bachelor's, master's, doctoral and visiting-scholar study at Chinese universities. Applications go through the Chinese embassy or consulate in the applicant's own country, each running its own deadline within the same broad annual cycle.

Checked 11 Sept 2026Share

Who can apply

A non-Chinese citizen in good health, meeting the academic requirements of the degree level applied for
Bachelor's applicants must sit the China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA) and submit a valid score as part of their application
Apply via the Study in China portal (campuschina.org) and, in most cases, through the Chinese embassy or consulate in the applicant's own country of residence

There is no one deadline to watch

There is no one CGS deadline to watch. Each Chinese embassy or consulate runs its own round for applicants in its own country, inside the same rough academic-year cycle, so the date that matters is whichever one your own country’s embassy publishes, not a single central one. The US embassy’s cycle for 2026/2027, for example, ran to an online-application deadline of 16 February 2026; other countries’ embassies closed at similar points across January and February.

The application route, and an extra step for bachelor’s applicants

The application route matters as much as the date: applicants sign up and apply through the Study in China portal at campuschina.org, and for most routes also need a Pre-admission Letter or Invitation Letter from a Chinese university before applying through their embassy. Bachelor’s applicants have an extra step, sitting the China Scholastic Competency Assessment and submitting a valid score.

“CGS” is really an umbrella brand, not one single scholarship

What campuschina.org’s own scholarship listing makes clear is that “Chinese Government Scholarship” isn’t a single programme; it’s an umbrella covering several distinct tracks administered by the same China Scholarship Council. Alongside the flagship bilateral route this entry describes, the same CGS category includes the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship, the Youth of Excellence Scheme of China Program (aimed specifically at training global-governance talent, with around 200 places for master’s students), the China Link Short-term Scientific Exchange Scholarship, and the MOFCOM Scholarship, which this site already covers as its own entry. Checking which specific track fits before applying matters more than treating “CGS” as one uniform programme.

What multiple sources agree the award covers

campuschina.org previously did not load during an earlier check, so the exact stipend and accommodation figures for the current cycle were left unconfirmed, and they still haven’t been independently verified against the Council’s own Application Guide document itself, even though the portal now loads normally. What multiple embassy pages agree on is the shape of a full award: tuition, accommodation or a housing subsidy, a living stipend, and medical insurance. Confirm the specific numbers on the China Scholarship Council’s own Application Guide, linked from your own embassy’s CGS notice, before budgeting around them.

A standing fraud warning worth knowing about

The China Scholarship Council has previously issued a public statement warning that certain organisations have sent fake CGS admission notices and documents to international students, asking for deposits to secure admission status that don’t actually exist. Treat any request for a deposit tied to a CGS admission offer as a red flag, and verify anything unexpected directly with your own country’s Chinese embassy rather than the sender of the notice itself.