1. Introduction

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) accepts international students through over 20 UCAS faculties and over 100 institutes of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). See here for detailed information about applicable UCAS faculties and CAS institutes.

The program is recruiting international students from all over the world to pursue PhD education at UCAS. For Chinese-instructed PhD Programs, please refer to UCAS Admission Information Website (see here). For English-instructed PhD programs, please refer to Attachment 1. Doctoral programs commonly last for 3-4 years. Certificates of graduation and degrees will be awarded to those who have met the requirements of  graduation and degree conferment.

2. General Conditions for Applicants

(1) Non-Chinese citizens who abide by China's laws and decrees, as well as UCAS's rules and regulations.

(2) Be of good character and in good health without any infectious disease or physical or mental diseases that may affect the normal study.

(3) Holding a Master's degree or its equivalent.

As some countries' higher education systems are very different from the Chinese system, applicants from different education systems should see Attachment 2 for reference. If you are currently pursuing a doctoral degree at any university/institution in China, you are NOT eligible for this program (except those who are graduating before September 2024).

(4) English proficiency is required. For Chinese-taught programs, the applicant's Chinese proficiency shall reach at least HSK level 5.

3. Application Time

October 20^th, 2023–May 15^th, 2024. For those who apply to UCAS for scholarship, please submit application before February 15^th, 2024.

4. Application Materials

Applicant shall carefully prepare the application materials in strict accordance with the following requirements, and must ensure that the submitted materials are true and valid. Otherwise, they will be disqualified from application or admission. If the application materials are incomplete or do not meet the requirements, they will be returned for modification or may be rejected.

All documents must be in English or Chinese. Otherwise, scanned copy of the original and its English or Chinese translation are required to combine into one PDF file. Please use color scanner to scan the original documents of your certificates and others. Documents taken by mobile phone or camera and copies are unacceptable. In the process of reviewing the application materials, the university may require some applicants to provide the original version of the application materials, the verification documents issued by the designated authority and others for further examination.

• ID Page of Valid Passport

Passport type must be ordinary. It shall have at least 1 year validity. Applicants who have given up their original Chinese citizenship and become foreign citizens shall provide the documents certifying the cancellation of Chinese nationality, according to the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China.

• Full-Face Bust Photo with 2-Inch

The uploaded photo shall be the same as that used for your passport.

• Complete CV with Detail Education and Research Experience

Current employees shall attach employment certificates to their resumes.

• Original Certificates of Master's and Bachelor's Degree

Applicants who have graduated must submit scanned copies of the original Master's degree certificate and bachelor's degree certificate. For those who are expected to graduate before September 2024, they shall provide a pre-graduation certificate from the student department of current university stating their expected graduation date. Their scanned copies of Master's degree certificate must be submitted to the International Student Office of UCAS via host college/institute before registration if they get admitted at UCAS.

• Original Transcripts of Master's and Bachelor's Study

Applicants who have graduated must submit scanned copies of their complete transcripts during Master's and Bachelor's studies. For those who are expected to graduate before September 2024, they can provide official transcripts up to the present. Their final complete transcripts must be submitted to the International Student Office of UCAS via host college/institute before registration if they get admitted at UCAS.

• Proof of knowledge of English/Chinese

English proficiency is required. Applicants must provide the scanned copy of valid IELTS or TOEFL result or other proof of their English proficiency (except those whose mother tongue is English).

Applicants for programs instructed in Chinese must provide the photocopy of HSK certificate (at least level 5 with no less than 180 scores) or other proof of their Chinese language proficiency.

• Published Academic Papers (if available);

    Please DO NOT provide any unpublished academic papers, neither nor non-academic papers.

• Motivation Letter with Detailed Research Proposal;

The content of motivation letter should include your purpose of studying in China, academic background, research experience, the reasons why you are applying for the program, study plan and research proposal, and your employment objectives after graduation, etc.

• Two Reference Letters

The referees shall be professors or associate professors (or equivalent professionals with relevant academic title), not to be your host supervisor, and be familiar with you and your research work. The letters should be signed, dated on official headed paper with contact phone number and email address of the referees. Reference letters in the body of e-mails will NOT be accepted!

• Provisional Acceptance Form (If have) (Attachment 3)

This form is a supplementary part of application materials. When submitting the application, if the applicant finds a supervisor and got accepted, he or she shall upload the supervisor-signed Provisional Acceptance Form to the online application system.

Applicants are encouraged to make informal contact with potential supervisors prior to making an application. See here for a list of applicable schools/institutes and supervisors of UCAS. Send an explanatory e-mail together with your CV, transcripts, motivation letter with detailed research proposal and other documents to him/her, and clearly state that you wish to apply for the doctoral program of UCAS.

• Certificate of Financial Support

For those who a. have already got financial support, please attach the certificate of financial support; b. are applying to study by self-support, please attach the affidavit of support from guarantors and a bank statement; c. are applying for UCAS Partial Scholarship to get tuition waiver, please complete its online application procedure.

• Bank Receipt of Application Processing Fee

Applicants of ANSO Scholarship, Chinese Government Scholarship and UCAS Scholarship for International Students are not required to pay for this fee. Processing fee is non-refundable in any case.

5. Online Application

Applicants are required to submit their application via the online application system (http://adis.ucas.ac.cn) within the application time. Please finish your online application as early as possible, for the college or institute which you select to evaluate your application and remind you to correct or complete it when necessary. Please also note that:

1. It is not mandatory for you to find a supervisor prior to submit an online application. Those who meet the above-mentioned conditions can submit application whether they find a supervisor or not. For applicants who do not get accepted by any supervisors when submitting application, the colleges or institutes which they select may help forward their applications to potential supervisors for references.
2. The information filled in is very important for the university to make Admission Notice, Visa Application Form and others. Applicants must ensure that the information filled in is accurate, to avoid any impact on the subsequent related matters.
3. Please DO NOT create two or more accounts and submit multiple applications to us. We will check the duplicates. Once verified, they will be disqualified from application or admission.

6. Evaluation and Admission

UCAS enrols international students based on evaluation of application documents together with an entrance examination. The admission committee of the applicable UCAS schools/CAS institutes will review the application documents and select applicants for entrance examination. The examination will be mainly taken on interview. Some colleges/institutes may require applicants to take a written test. The examination shall be hold by the college/institute applied for and notified to the applicants who have passed the evaluation of application documents.

Admission is determined at UCAS school/CAS institute level with oversight by UCAS according to the result of the document review, the interview, and other factors. Admission Notices, Visa Application Forms and some other documents will be sent to the admitted students after the final admission result is released. Prior to this, applicants may check their admission status via the Online Application System for International Students of UCAS (here)

7. Visa Application and Registration

The admitted student should take his personal passport that is used for admission application, Admission Notice, Visa Application Form (JW202/JW201), and original Form of Physical Examination Record for Foreigners as well as other original documents of physical examination to the Embassy or Consulate of the People's Republic of China, and apply for a student visa (X1/X2 visa). Please do not enter China visa-free or with other types of visas other than X visa. Please keep the original Admission Notice and Visa Application Form (JW202/JW201) which are needed for registration and residence permit application.

The admitted student should register at the place indicated in the Admission Notice, and should register on the assigned date. Otherwise, they should get the university approval in advance.

8. Fees and Scholarships

8.1 Application Processing Fee, Tuition, and Expenses:

(1) Application processing fee: RMB 600 (Non-refundable);

(2) Tuition:

Liberal Arts: RMB 34,000/year;
All Other Disciplines: RMB 40,000/year;

(3) Accommodation fee:

For two or three students shared rooms, RMB 30/day for one student;

For single room, RMB 60/day for one student.

(4) Other fee

Medical fee is paid according to the insurance scheme of insurance company. Board expenses, travel expenses and other costs of experiments, meetings and trainings beyond the program curriculum are at the student's own expense.

Please note:

1. Currencies other than RMB, USD and EUR are unacceptable.
2. UCAS bank account information:

Beneficiary: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Account number: 11001059200053002790

Bank: Construction Bank of China

Beijing Municipal Dongfangguangchang Branch

SWIFTCODE：PCBCCNBJBJX

3. Please specify the purpose of the remittance and the student's name, nationality and passport number.
4. Due to the limitation of dormitory capacity, those who fail to make reservation need to find the accommodation off campus by themselves.

8.2 Scholarships

    ● Chinese Government Scholarship

The Chinese Government Scholarship sponsor international students to study at Chinese universities. The scholarship offers fee waivers of admission application and tuition, health insurance, on-campus accommodation, etc. Please refer to the website of the China Scholarship Council (http://www.csc.edu.cn/Laihua/) for detailed introduction, qualifications of applicants and application procedure. UCAS is one of the Chinese Government Scholarship universities. Eligible applicants may apply for above-mentioned program to the China Scholarship Council with recommendation from related national official departments and Embassies or Consulates of the People's Republic of China. The scholarship application usually starts in November and ends in the following April, but please be noted of deadline variations for different countries. The International Students Office of UCAS will offer pre-admission notice if needed. Applicants may submit application via UCAS (see here for detailed information and application procedure) to apply for Chinese University Program and Silk-Road program. But this is only for a small number of excellent international students who are not currently studying in China.

     ● ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents

The program offers full scholarship for international students from all over the world to pursue graduate education at UCAS. It provides tuition and application processing fee waivers and living allowance, health insurance and international travel subsidy. Please refer to here for detailed information and application procedure.

      ● UCAS Scholarship for International Students

The program offers full scholarship and partial scholarship for international students to pursue graduate education at UCAS. Full scholarship provides tuition fee waiver, health insurance and living allowance. Partial scholarship commonly provides tuition fee waiver and health insurance. Please refer to here for detailed information and application procedure.

9. Contact Information

Coordinator of UCAS: Ms. XIE

International Students Office

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

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

Email: phd@ucas.ac.cn

Website: https://english.ucas.ac.cn

Coordinator of ITP-CAS: Ms. SUN

Personnel & Education Office

Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

No.55 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100190, China

Emai: syn@itp.ac.cn

Website: http://english.itp.cas.cn/

attachment1: Attachment 1 PhD program major list

attachment2: Attachment 2

attachment3: Attachment 3