Introduction 

“The Belt and Road” Master Fellowship Programme is launched in connection with the International Outreach Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).   

It provides funding opportunities for up to 120 students/scholars from the countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (the Belt and Road) to pursue Master degrees at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) around China up to 3 years. 

Courses and Programmes 

For UCAS, please refer to Call for 2019 Master’s Programs for International Students. 

Fellowship Coverage and Duration 

Coverage: 

a)        Tuition fee exemption by UCAS; 

b)        Monthly stipend to cover accommodation, local transportation expenses, health insurance, and other basic living expenses (Reference: RMB 4000 per month, within which RMB 1000 is provided by UCAS faculty/CAS institute). 

Duration: 

The funding duration of the fellowship is up to 3 years (with NO EXTENSION), divided into:  

a)      Maximum 1 year study of courses and participation in centralized training at UCAS, including 4 months compulsory courses in Chinese Language and Chinese Culture; 

b)      Practical research and completion of degree thesis at colleges and schools of UCAS or CAS institutes.  

General conditions for applicants: 

    Be citizens from the Belt and Road countries other than China; 

    Be healthy and maximum age of 30 years on 31 December 2019; 

    Hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent educational degree; 

    Be with excellent academic achievements, keen on scientific research and have good personal characters; 

   Get acceptance by a host supervisor and approval by the UCAS faculty/CAS institute that the supervisor is affiliated with; 

   Be proficient in English or Chinese. Applicants whose native language is not English should provide unexpired TOEFL or IELTS scores. TOEFL scores should be 90 or higher, and IELTS scores should be 6.5 or higher. Applicants are not required to submit a TOEFL or IELTS score only if their:  

a) Native language is English, or 

b) Major undergraduate courses are conducted in English/Chinese, which should be stated in transcripts, or 

c) New HSK Band 5 passed with over 200 scores. 

    Meet other application requirements for Master’s programs of UCAS. 

Step By Step Guideline 

In order to successfully apply for CAS “The Belt and Road” Master Fellowship, applicants are requested to follow a few key steps that are indicated below: 

1. CHECK ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:  

You should verify that you are eligible and meet ALL the eligibility criteria specified in the “General conditions for applicants” section of this call (e.g. age, bachelor’s degree, etc). 

2. FIND AN ELIGIBLE HOST SUPERVISOR AFFILIATED WITH UCAS FACULTY OR CAS INSTITUTE THAT AGREES TO ACCEPT YOU. 

See here for a list of eligible supervisors affiliated with UCAS faculties/CAS institutes.  

Once you find an eligible professor of your interest, you must contact him/her, send an explanatory e-mail together with your CV, research proposal and any other required documents to him/her, and indicate that you wish to apply for CAS “The Belt and Road” Master Fellowship.  

3. SUBMIT BOTH OF YOUR ADMISSION APPLICATION AND FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION VIA THE ONLINE SYSTEM.  

Applications for both admission and fellowship shall be submitted via the Online Application System for International Students of UCAS (http://adis.ucas.ac.cn) which would be officially launched around Dec. 1, 2018. Please prepare and upload the following materials to the system. Make sure the electronic version of supporting documentation is in the right format as requested for the online application system. 

Personal information page of ordinary passport 

The passport shall have at least 2 years validity. According to Article 3 of the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, any individual who was a Chinese national and then acquired a foreign nationality shall provide a Certificate of Cancellation of Chinese Household registration. 

 Your recent full-face bust photo with 2-inch 

It is best to upload the photo used for passport. 

 Complete CV with a brief introduction of research experience 

 Bachelor’s degree certificate 

Applicants having just completed or about to complete their Bachelor degree should provide an official pre-graduation certificate showing their student status and stating their expected graduation date. They are required to submit Bachelor degree certificates to the International Students Office of UCAS via their host institute before they enroll in UCAS. 

 Transcript of undergraduate study 

 Proof of knowledge of English and/or Chinese 

 Detailed research proposal 

 Title pages and abstracts of published papers (if have) 

If you have more than 5 papers, please upload no more than 5 of representative papers. Please DO NOT upload any unpublished paper. 

 TWO reference letters 

The referees shall be familiar with you and your work, NOT to be your host supervisor. The letters should be signed, dated on official headed paper with contact phone number and email address of the referees.  

 Foreigner Physical Examination Form 

    4. REMIND YOUR SUPERVISOR TO COMPLETE THE SUPERVISOR’S COMMENT PAGE AND SEND IT TO THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS OFFICE OF UCAS BY THE UCAS FACULTY/CAS INSTITUTE WHICH HE/SHE IS AFFILIATED WITH BEFORE DEADLINE.  

Please note: 

a. All uploaded documents should be in Chinese or in English; otherwise notarial translations in Chinese or English are required. Once translated, the original documents and their notarial translations are required to submit together to the application system. Please use a scanner to prepare all the required documents in color. Images captured by mobile phone or camera are not acceptable. Copies are also not acceptable. 

b. The university has the right to request applicants to provide the original or notarial hardcopies of their application documents for further qualification checks if the uploaded documents are insufficient. Applicants shall guarantee all the information and application documents submitted in this application are authentic and accurate, otherwise they will be disqualified from admission. 

c. Application with incomplete documents, lack of some required documents or wrong personal information will not be processed. 

d. The applicant cannot apply to more than one institute/school and supervisor. 

e. Please choose major, host supervisor and host institute cautiously before submission. After enrolment at UCAS, applications for the change of these items are seldom considered. 

f. Please DO NOT send any hardcopy of application materials directly to the International Students Office of UCAS. None of the application documents will be returned. 

g. Applicants of this fellowship are exempt from application processing fee. 

h. Please prepare your application carefully. After submission, none will be returned to you for modifications.  

Application Deadline 

March 31, 2019 

Notification of Decision and Visa Application 

The admission decisions will be made normally in May to June. The offers of admissions, award letters and other documents will be conveyed afterwards.  

Awardees shall take the following documents to the Embassy or Consulate of the People's Republic of China, and apply for a student visa (X1/X2 visa): 

    Personal passports as used for application 

    Admission Notice 

    Visa Application Form (JW202) 

    Physical Examination Record for Foreigners 

    Other original reports from the physical examination 

Please keep safe of the original Admission Notice and Visa Application Form (JW202). They are essential in the application for the Permanent Residence Permit upon registration. Please do not apply for visa waiver or other types of visa. 

Additional Information 

    Awardees must register at the time and place indicated in the Admission Notice. Otherwise, they should apply for extension of their registration. 

    Awardees must show the original copies of Bachelor’s degree certificate and transcript to International Students Office. 

    The duration of the fellowship is stated explicitly in the Admission Notice. 

   The fellowship can be retained for no longer than 2 months since the deadline of the registration. 

    Awardees receive monthly stipend from UCAS since the registration day. Those who register before the 15^th of a given month (including 15^th) receive a full-month stipend, while those register after the 15^th of a given month receive a half-month stipend. 

   Registered awardees must abide by relevant rules and regulations of the universities, and attend reviews and examinations, such as the qualifying tests on time. Awardees who fail review or examination will be deprived of their fellowship or their fellowship will be suspended. 

    Any work produced and published by the awardees during the funding period of the fellowship must be credited to the institute/school and the university where the awardees are enrolled. Awardees are also required to acknowledge “Sponsored by CAS the ‘Belt and Road’ Master Fellowship Program and CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI)” in written dedication. 

Contact Information 

International Students Office 

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences 

No.80 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100190, China 

Coordinator: Ms. HU Menglin 

Email: iso@ucas.ac.cn 

Tel/Fax: +86-10-82672900 

Website: http://english.ucas.ac.cn/ 

Coordinator: Ms.YANG Yingrun 

Office of Human Resources and Education 

Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden 

Chinese Academy of Sciences 

Menglun, Mengla，Yunnan 666303, P. R. China 

Email: yangyingrun@xtbg.ac.cn 

Tel：+86-691-8713 001 

Website: http://english.xtbg.cas.cn/