Every year, China provides scholarships to the citizens of different countries intending to develop and exchange education and culture. Basically, a university teacher or students has great opportunities for higher education in China under multiples schemes of scholarship. China now attracts more international students than any other Asian power and ranks third globally, behind the USA and the UK. There is a chance to study with quality education with relatively low cost. Recently the Chinese government has changed the visa systems and approved employment for meritorious students and researchers.
The type of scholarship is Chinese Government Scholarship, Local Government scholarship, Confucius Institute scholarship, School scholarship, enterprise scholarship and university overseas scholarship etc. These are controlled by the Chinese government and international alliances and organizations such as the European Union and UNESCO.
These degrees in different terms include subject-based core education and Chinese language education. If a student has already completed secondary education in the Chinese language or has a HSK certificate (Certificate of Chinese Language Proficiency), he/she will be exempted from the language education course. However, there has a huge scope for the students to complete or to start a degree in English medium of instruction.
Students who have passed high school will have the opportunity to apply to the graduate program. In this case, the age must be under 25 years. And those who have already completed their bachelor’s degree will be able to get a master’s degree from China. The age limit for applying for a postgraduate degree is 35 years. To apply for a doctoral (PhD) degree under the scholarship, the applicant must have a postgraduate pass and be under 40 years of age. In General Scholar Program, only those who have graduated for at least two years and are 45 years of age or less can apply. Postgraduate pass candidates will have the opportunity to apply for a doctoral degree as well as a senior scholar program. However, maximum 50-year-olds can apply to this program. Candidates working as Associate Professors will also get the opportunity to pursue higher education in the Senior Scholar Program.
Last year only 29 numbers of scholarships were awarded finally by china at all levels. In the current year, the numbers of scholarships are only 51 and, the number of scholarships is increasing in the current year than the previous year. However, the number of scholarships for Bangladesh students is decreasing in the last two years compared to the past for multiple causes. Diplomatic relations may not effectively perform in this regard as my concern. So, the respective ministry should give more conscious of this issue so that more potential applicants will get the chance to award for scholarship in the future. It will be a good job and creates more scope to take the opportunity of scholarship from China.
(Mr. Shafiqul is Assistant Professor, Dept. of Accounting & Information Systems, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Bangladesh and Ph.D. Fellow, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China).
