Study in China Accessible Through Confucius Scholarship

The Confucius Institute of Washing­ton at UW is offering students who are interested in studying abroad in China a Confucius Institute Scholarship op­portunity. The deadline for applications is May 10, and students can set up an account and find the application at http://cis.chinese.cn

Confucius Institutes are a nonprofit initiative of the Hanban, the executive body of the Chinese Language Council International, a non-governmental and nonprofit organization affiliated to the Ministry of Education of China. There are nearly 100 Confucius Institutes in the United States. Their goals are to in­crease the amount of students entering higher education and the workforce who demonstrate Chinese language efficien­cy, and to increase the number of schools and colleges offering Chinese programs. This deep commitment to academic and cultural service is reflected in the mission statement of the Confucius Institutes:

“Confucius Institutes devote them­selves to satisfying the demands of people from different countries and regions in the world who learn the Chi­nese language, to enhancing understand­ing of the Chinese language and culture by these peoples, to strengthening edu­cational and cultural exchange and co­operation between China and other countries, to deepening friendly relation­ships with other nations, to promoting the development of multiculturalism, and to construct a harmonious world.” – Constitution of Confucius Institutes.

Following their mission statements, they have offered this scholarship as a way to enhance the understanding of Chinese culture. This scholarship spon­sors foreign students, scholars, and Chi­nese language teachers to study Chinese in universities in China. There are five categories of student eligibility: Scholar­ship for Students of Master’s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL), Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year plus MTCSOL, Scholarship for Students of Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (BTC­SOL), Scholarship for One-Academic- Year Students, and Scholarship for One- Semester Students. Applicants must be non-Chinese citizens, in good health, and between the ages of 16 and 35. Schol­arship winners are exempt from tuition, accommodation fees on campus, and are provided with monthly living allow­ance, and comprehensive insurance for foreign students studying in China. For Bachelor’s Degree Students, One-Aca­demic-Year Students and One-Semester Students, the monthly living allowances are roughly $400 USD, and for Master’s Degree Students it’s roughly $483 USD. The host institutes will contact success­ful applicants by July 1 with information on how to proceed.