MOFCOM Scholarship (Ministry of Commerce of China)

Who can apply

Holds a bachelor's degree and relevant professional experience; the programme is aimed at senior government officials, researchers and senior managers rather than recent graduates
Meets the physical requirements necessary to complete an intensive taught curriculum
Applies through the Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office of the Chinese embassy in the applicant's own country
Each applicant applies to one specific named degree programme from the current year's list of roughly 40, each at a different Chinese university with its own admission requirements; the list changes year to year

A narrower, more senior-targeted programme than CGS

This is a narrower, more senior-targeted programme than the general Chinese Government Scholarship: MOFCOM’s own embassy notices describe it as built for “senior government officials, researchers and senior managers” from developing countries, not for applicants straight out of an undergraduate degree, and a bachelor’s degree plus real professional experience is a stated requirement rather than a preference.

Applications route through your embassy, but a central academy designs the programmes

As with the general CGS, there’s no single MOFCOM deadline. Each country’s Chinese embassy runs the process through its Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office, and closing dates vary; the Federated States of Micronesia’s 2026 notice closed 30 April, while other embassies ran to the end of May. All checked deadlines for the current cycle have already passed, and no 2027 notice is published yet. What the embassy notices don’t make obvious is that the degree programmes themselves are centrally designed and administered by a single institution: the Academy for International Business Officials (AIBO), founded in 1980 and based in Beijing, operating under the joint leadership of MOFCOM and the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) as part of China’s official foreign-aid training system. AIBO describes its own approach as “teaching people how to fish rather than giving them fish,” building recipient countries’ own professional capacity rather than funding individual study for its own sake.

Around 40 named degree programmes, far beyond “commerce” alone

The current year’s enrolment guide, published by AIBO rather than any single embassy, lists close to 40 specific named degree programmes at named Chinese universities, and the range is far wider than the scholarship’s name suggests. Alongside expected options like an International Executive MBA at the University of International Business and Economics or a Master of Professional Accounting at the Shanghai National Accounting Institute, the list includes a Master of Public Policy and a Master in Public Administration at Peking University, an International Master of Public Administration at Tsinghua University, Master’s programmes in International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University and in International Law at Wuhan University, a Master of Public Health at Southern Medical University, and further named programmes in fields as different as artificial intelligence, rural development, social work, journalism, and urban planning. Each applicant applies to one specific programme from that list, and the list itself is republished, not simply repeated, each year, so a programme available in one cycle may not appear in the next.

Coverage is real where it’s confirmed, and a common stipend figure stays unverified

Coverage is real and specific where it’s confirmed: an embassy notice states the award covers programme costs, basic living costs, insurance, and a round-trip international flight, comparable in shape to other China-hosted government scholarships covered on this site, including the guide to studying in China. A commonly repeated monthly stipend figure could not be confirmed on an official page during this check and has deliberately been left out.