Hello, I am creating this thread as a source of enlightenment for as many as have plans to come to Beijing.

Having gained a lot from travel page, I wish to document my experience and findings here. Hopefully it will help others too to achieve their dreams. To these people, I pray the desire of their hearts be fulfilled speedily and to 'freelancers', happy following.

Following

Following

Chai.. Another travel thread... Yippee


Predstan, ni hao

Iamboladee

Subomi007

Ugosample

MackyNaija

Shanghai I'm here too

Hadampson:
Chai.. Another travel thread... Yippee


Predstan, ni hao

Iamboladee

Subomi007

Ugosample

MackyNaija

Following

By God's grace
you'll come and tell your own story soon as well

Hadampson:
Chai.. Another travel thread... Yippee


Predstan, ni hao

Iamboladee

Subomi007

Ugosample

MackyNaija

Hmmmmmmmmm... baba, make we day see Wetin day flow

Ugosample:


Following

By God's grace
you'll come and tell your own story soon as well

Amen

austino677:
Shanghai I'm here too

Are you in Shanghai??

Predstan:



Hmmmmmmmmm... baba, make we day see Wetin day flow

Yes oo

That is how we roll

Tohyorsih, Tohyorsih2... Come and sit down on the front seat, awon ti china

austino677:
Shanghai I'm here too

It is a very good place to be. More international- people friendly. However more expensive.

FA13

We dey anticipate oh... Abeg no keep us waiting

To start with, I got in through chinese government scholarship by the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC).

I will highlight the process in the following posts.

My Journey to China- Study Route….


Ok….the journey started after a long search for post graduate study programme. Really China was not in any of my plan until I stumble on a thread on nairaland in the education section with the name ‘Nigeria Student in China’.

My aim of writing and documenting my application process is to help and equip future applicants with adequate knowledge of applying to Chinese universities and getting scholarships. While I struggle to glean information from the nairaland page and other sources, I want others to just get all the information in one place. If this can motivate and guide just one or two persons to apply for admission with scholarship, I will be more than fulfilled.

Note:
My explanation may be skewed towards the post graduate applicants especially master’s students as that is what I applied for, but I will endeavor to be balanced as much as possible.

Now to the Business…

Most Chinese universities admission for CGS -Chinese Government Scholarship- by CSC -Chinese Scholarship Council (https://www.campuschina.org) - opens around January and ends April for September resumption. Few extends beyond that. Candidates that are not interested in the scholarship can apply till July in some schools. Applicants should be non-Chinese and should not be a current student on the scholarship. The application website is www.studyinchina.csc.edu.cn/#/login
China has more than 3000 universities but only few (around 300) offers scholarship for international students every year. This means only few have programs are taught in English. The list of the universities can be seen on this site: https://feature.cucas.edu.cn/Articles/List-of-279-China-Universities-Admitting-Chinese-Government-Scholarship-Students:-Apply-for-Scholarship-in-China_1488.html

You can download the pdf version from this link. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZQ1NXASC1CTWrUjxtl88jEOdvz7liqeu

Applying

As it is with any university application process in any country, the search for school to attend will have to be intensive and factors to consider varies with individuals. This includes:

1. School having your intended program and faculties in your chosen research areas so as not to have problem with choosing supervisors.

2. Choice of university location: International environment like Beijing and Shanghai- very expensive though, cheaper areas in the Northern side but with few people who speaks English.

3. Weather: Colder in the North while more temperate in the Southern part.

4. Ranking of schools: The elite schools- C9, or Project 211 or 985 universities. The Elite universities like Tsinghua, Peking, Zhejiang, Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University will be more competitive so you will need to make your application highly attractive.


There are various modes of application that the schools adopt:
1. Online application only
2. Online application and posting the same paper document to the school’s admission office in China.
3. Paper submission to admission office only.

You need to check the method used by the school you are applying to. This was one of the criteria for me as I wanted to apply to schools that have only online application majorly as I do not want to spend extra amount on sending of the documents through courier services like DHL and FEDEX.

However if you want to apply to schools that request for paper application and do not want to spend excess money you can post your documents through NIPOST office especially at the Lagos International Airport. You can ask for their international exchange centre there or send it to the place from any other location. It takes roughly 1 month for it to be delivered to your school (though they will tell you it will take 2 weeks) so plan in advance.

Documents Needed.

The documents needed for application both on the CSC portal and school portal is as stated below. Some schools have more while others have less.

1. Statement of Purpose: One of the most important documents that need to be submitted and must be carefully prepared. This will separate two candidates with seemingly same or similar profile. This is what you use to sell yourself to the admission committee and your potential supervisor of what you want to bring to the table and contribute. It must show your passion about the field you want to be admitted to and be related to your supervisor’s research areas. Maximum of 2 pages is enough except otherwise stated.

2. English Language Proficiency test: This is for those who want to have their study in English language. IELTS and TOEFL are usually required. However a letter from your university called Letter of English Proficiency ascertaining that your previous programme was in English is sufficient to meet the requirement.

3. Two Recommendation Letters: From a Professor (Associate or Assistant). Most schools allow you to upload the letters yourself.

4. International passport

5. Degree Certificates – usually the notarized copy.
Notarized means it is signed and stamped by a notary public ( a lawyer). You can get this done in any court for like 500-1000 naira per page or bargain if you have many to notarize.
Note: It is the photocopy that will be notarized.

6. Transcript – notarized copy also.

7. O-Level result- notarized.

8. Foreigner Physical Examination Form- All students (all visitors) to china need to do medical test to ascertain healthy condition. It is to be done in a government hospital with all results attached. A link to download the form is usually in every school’s admission website. It can also be downloaded from https://www.visaforchina.org/MEL_EN/generalinformation/downloads/270951.shtml

9. Supervisor Acceptance Letter: A letter of acceptance of supervision from a professor is highly important. If it is not gotten before initial review, it must be gotten before final admission especially for scholarship students. Only candidates from bilateral program form of the CSC may be granted the scholarship without a supervisor.

10. Scholarship Application form (For scholarship applicants): This will be downloaded or printed after you have successfully filled the form on the scholarship website be it CGS or provincial scholarships. The scholarship form will be filled first before applying to the school because of this reason.

11. Resume.

Application Fee
The Chinese universities has some advantage in this regard as most will carry out preliminary evaluation on your application for completeness and competitiveness and sometimes interview before you are asked to pay the application fee. The application fee ranges from 200 to 800 yuan.
Note: 1 Yuan or RMB is roughly 50 Naira.

Scholarship
There are various and different types of scholarships available for international students in China. Some are full funding while others are partial funding. The most popular ones are
1. Chinese Government scholarship
2. Confucius Scholarship usually for language student
3. Provincial Scholarship: offered by various provinces e.g. Beijing Government scholarship, Shanghai Government scholarship, Jilin Government Scholarship and so on.
4. MOFCOM Scholarship by the Ministry of Finance.

The process of application is similar for them and the same document that will be used for admission is usually used.

Note: Scholarship application will be done first before applying to the school since the completed application form will be submitted during school application. However the choice of school must have been made before applying for the scholarship as the name of school and CSC code for the school will be asked during application.

Also for undergraduate program, the CSC scholarship is usually for those that want to study in Chinese i.e. those whose language of instruction is in Chinese. English taught undergraduates can apply for other scholarship(s).

The scholarship application ends for most schools by March or April. The CSC scholarship can be applied for in two ways:
1. Type A- This method is through the Chinese embassy. You will have to go to their embassy as they are the ones that select for this type.

2. Type B-In this case you apply to CSC yourself after you have researched the school you wanted and probably gotten acceptance from your supervisor.

In conclusion on scholarship, you can have multiple application with same email or different ones as you like, but I think it is limited to three (3). That means you can apply to CSC for 3 different schools. But it is not the number of applications made that matters but making your application solid, getting supervisor etc.

Admission Process
1. Check if your course is listed on the school’s website among those taught in English.

2. Check for supervisor- This seems like the hardest part for most people. However to get the supervisor, you have to send a personalized mail to each one you are interested in, detailing your strength, skills, experience, area of interest(which should be closely related to his/her), CV, transcript, published paper(if any) and any other document that can help. As most of them are very busy, you might need to be persistent with the mail. Reminders might be necessary after a week or two without response.

For my application, I sent a mail to a Professor and after sending him a reminder, thanked me for my persistent but express his bias that he has never supervised a Nigerian student before as he is from Japan and could not judge my ability. He then asked me to send him a write up on my academic achievement so far. After this he accepted me. Some however responded that their quota for international students has been filled. However some will not respond no matter how many message you sent to them. So be prompt!

A friend of mine used a more extreme approach. He said he was sending a reminder to him every 10 minutes until the man got tired and responded like ‘haba you wan kill me’. Another one just listed out the professors in his research areas from all universities he knew and was sending messages to them one after the other. So different strokes.

However you need to be mindful of the time difference between the two countries so that you will not be sending the messages at odd hours.

3. Apply online and upload all necessary documents. Send the hard copy too if it is required.

4. Preliminary review by the admission committee.

If you passed preliminary review, you will be asked to pay application fee. Some schools though ask for payment without any preliminary review. Few other do not ask for payment.

5. Interview: Interview will be conducted via their social media platform-WeChat.

6. Final decision

Scholarship decision will be communicated after CSC has approved. Once your school has nominated you, you are almost sure that you will win the scholarship.

FA13:
To start with, I got in through chinese government scholarship by the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC).

I will highlight the process in the following posts.

Thanks boss. God bless you

VISA Application.

Congratulations! You have been granted admission and awarded the prestigious scholarship that you applied for. Next is the Visa application. But before this, you must have been mailed the hard copy of your admission letter and JW201/202. This is a document issued by the Ministry of Education in China for all admitted international students. 201 is for those on Chinese government scholarship while 202 is for those that are self-funded or scholarship from any other source. The good thing here is that most schools do not ask you to pay for courier service to post the document to you unlike the American schools.

This is one of the most tedious one for me though, probably because the official notice of admission came out pretty late in my school. But the process is not too tedious. The only challenge is the dearth of information on the application process unlike the US Visa that has mammoth amount of information on the internet.

Basically, you just need to visit the website of their embassy in Abuja or the consular office in Lagos depending on whichever is closest to you. I however chose Abuja because there is an authentication of documents (Police certificate) to be done at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja. Also their Lagos office sometimes ask for statement of account even for scholarship students. A comprehensive information is available on their websites: https://ng.china-embassy.org , https://Lagos.china-consulate.org . A summary will be given.

The type of Visa to apply for is X Visa. This is the study visa in China much like F1 visa in the US. There are X1 visa for study more 180 days or 6 months and X2 for study less than 180 days. The documents needed to apply for the visa include:
1. International Passport with at least 6 month validity.

2. Visa Application form and Photo which can be filled on https://cova.cs.mfa.gov.cn . The completed form will then be printed and signed.

3. Foreigner Physical Examination Form.

4. Admission Letter.

5. JW201/ JW202.

6. Police Report authenticated (signed and stamped) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria.

7. Original and a photocopy of degree certificate (U can also take the notarized copy along).

8. Transcript.

9. Birth certificate

10. Scratch card for WASSCE or NECO result (for Bachelors candidate).

11. Statement of account or proof of fund for self-paid students.

12. Flight ticket or reservation- You can just reserve on any of the airline without paying just to show them at the embassy.

Some claim there is need to authenticate the degree certificate at the Ministry of Education then Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I was not asked for this.

All this documents will be taken to China Visa Application centre (CVAC) in Lagos or Abuja. For both places the CVAC is in Churchgate Plaza Building. You have to book appointment to submit these documents on https://avas.cs.mfa.gov.cn . After this is submitted you will then book again for interview. However some people have express interview on the same day of submission if your school has written them initially.

On the visa interview, I might not have much to say because I was not asked any question. My originals were just checked and verified. It might not be so for others.

The payment for the visa is 14,000 naira per person for single entry but visa application centre will collect processing fees making like 31, 500 naira that is going to be paid thee. You might need to pay for courier service to deliver your passport back to you after it has been signed which cost between 11,000 to 20,000 depending on how far your place is from the centre. You can as well pick it up yourself.

It takes average of 4 working days for the VISA to be ready. After collection, Pack your bags and baggages and
WELCOME TO CHINA![color=#990000][/color]


Some other useful websites for the application
www.chinesescholarshipcouncil.com
www.studyinchina.csc.edu.cn/#/login - CSC application page.

Wow.. I'm loving this

Keep the pictures coming OP

Hadampson:


Yes oo

That is how we roll

Tohyorsih, Tohyorsih2... Come and sit down on the front seat, awon ti china

Here i come!!

Hope i didn't come late

Hadampson:
Chai.. Another travel thread... Yippee


Predstan, ni hao

Iamboladee

Subomi007

Ugosample

MackyNaija

We go deh alright my brother! Hadampson

Lalasticlala pls help this topic to front page

Hadampson:


Are you in Shanghai??

no oo

This process is too long

Present.

Joohan:
This process is too long

worth it? Hell yea!

tohyorsih2:



Here i come!!

Hope i didn't come late

Not at all.

How is Jiangsu?

FA13:


Not at all.

How is Jiangsu?

It's fine thanks.

Hope the heat is not too much in your side

austino677:
no oo

I thought you are in Shanghai. I would have asked you to share your experience with us

iamboladee:


We go deh alright my brother! Hadampson

Insha Allah

tohyorsih2:



Here i come!!

Hope i didn't come late

No, you are just at the right time

Come and sit beside me jawe