Imperial College London and the China Scholarship Council (CSC)

Eligibility criteria

The scholarship is open those who meet the following:

• Chinese students with a strong academic background.
• Students must hold a PR Chinese passport (applicants from Hong Kong or Taiwan are not eligible). Applicants can either be resident in China (domestic applicants) at the time of application or Chinese applicants studying overseas. 
• Students with prior experience of studying overseas (including in the UK) are eligible to apply. Chinese Imperial graduates/Masters students are therefore eligible for the scheme.  
• Applicants can be either a new applicant or in their first year* of PhD study at Imperial (*for the purpose of the 2025-26 awards, applicants in their first year are only those starting the PhD  from 1 August 2024 to 31 August 2025)
• Successful candidates must return to China for two years after completing their PhD.

Chinese students applying from China (domestic applicant) 

• Students applying from China (domestic applicant) must have a referral unit, so applicants must be either working or studying to be eligible to apply for these scholarships. Important:  Some referral units have early deadlines to consider CSC applicants (For instance Fudan University’s application last year was early i.e. 8 March).  You are therefore strongly advised to check referral unit deadlines well in advance to ensure you do not miss their deadline
• Students currently studying an undergraduate degree in China can apply for this scholarship provided they will graduate in 2025 before the start of their programme. Students must apply via their academic institution in China.  
• Students currently studying a Master’s in China are eligible to apply for these scholarships.  Students must apply via their academic institution in China.  
• Applicants currently employed in China by a company must apply via their company.  The company shall be aware of and agree to its employees applying for CSC scholarships.

Chinese students applying while overseas

• Students currently completing their Master’s degree from their overseas universities can apply for these scholarships.
• CSC have different application requirements for Chinese applicants who have come back to China (domestic applicants) and for Chinese applicants who stay overseas. If students stay overseas when applying for CSC scholarships, students need to apply within one year after obtaining their Master's degree from overseas universities.  Those who have graduated over a year can also apply if they are in their first year of PhD study at Imperial. (If students return to China after their study abroad, students must follow the rules as a domestic applicant).
• Students staying overseas after obtaining their Master’s degree from their overseas university can apply for these scholarships even if they are not either working or studying but students need to apply within one year after obtaining their Master's degree from overseas.
• Undergraduate students studying overseas cannot apply for the CSC PhD programme.

 

Application process

PROSPECTIVE scholars must follow all of the following steps in this order:

1. Initial Contact:

   Prospective PhD students must approach individual Imperial Departments and supervisors with their project details well before the PhD application deadline. It is essential to make contact with departments/supervisors before submitting a PhD application.

    

2. Submit PhD Application:

   Complete the PhD application by 13 January 2025 via My Imperial at the 'Application process' webpage. Note: Some departments may have earlier deadlines for this scholarship, so check with your department.

    

3. Nomination by Department:

   Departments will nominate candidates and submit the 'China Scholarship Council - Nomination Form' by 10 February 2025.The form is available via the Information for staff webpage and should be submitted by 11:59 pm on  Monday, 10 February 2025.  Students must have a formal offer of admission by the time your department submits the completed 'China Scholarship Council - Nomination Form'  All applications and pre - scholarship nomination process are administered by departments. Department have their individual process therefore please contact your supervisor directly for further guidance on scholarship nomination. 

    

4. Meet English Language Condition:

   Applicants must meet the English language requirement by 5 March 2025. Please see our 'English language requirements page' for details on our language requirements and ensure you meet the English requirements by 5 March. 

    

5. CSC Application and Selection Process:

   ​​​​​​​The CSC Imperial Scholarship Panel will  review nominations and produce a list of students to be recommended for a CSC Imperial Scholarship. Those selected students will be informed by 12 March 2025 and will be required to complete the CSC application between 10–31 March 2025 (dates to be confirmed). Final CSC approval will take place between April and June 2025.

FIRST YEAR PhD students at Imperial must follow steps 3 and 5 above

Additional information

Each scholarship covers:

• Overseas tuition fees
• Maintenance allowance equal to Imperial’s minimum stipend (£21,237 in 2024-25) per year
• One economy class return journey to China

For new applicants, scholarships will support:

• 3 years of study for a PhD, or
• 4 years in certain cases where the student is required to undertake a one-year postgraduate degree before beginning their PhD.

For students in their first year of PhD study at Imperial (October 2024 start), scholarships will support two years of study.  

Contact

If you have any additional questions, please contact us at scholarships@imperial.ac.uk.