Chinese government grants for students from Kazakhstan: what the Bolashak centre's notice set out
Sources checked · Unofficial summary
Chinese government grants for Kazakhstan were handled through JSC «Center for International Programs» (Bolashak), the body that collected applications under the intergovernmental scheme. The most recent call found on the Center's site when it was checked on 10 October 2026 is the notice 155 Educational Grants for Studying in Chinese Universities, published on 22 December 2023 for the 2024-2025 academic year; every date in it has passed. This page reports only what that notice says, plus the figures in a later Center news item. This site does not accept applications and is not part of that process.
Who received the applications
Applications went to the Center for International Programs, not to a Chinese university and not to this site. The notice describes the grants as offered under the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Education between the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, dated 3 June 2003.
The Center also published a news item on 13 September 2024 about a meeting between its board chair and the Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan, in which cooperation on the Bolashak programme, scientific internships and intergovernmental grants was discussed. That item carries figures but no application dates.
How the application was submitted
The notice named two routes for submitting documents:
- Through the «Electronic Government» portal (Egov.kz). Submitting there required an EDS (electronic digital signature), which the notice said could be obtained remotely.
- In person at the «Center for International Programs» JSC.
Separately, candidates had to complete online registration on the China Scholarship Council's website; the notice gives the address as a campuschina.org page. It gives no CSC agency number, and it does not describe sending paper copies by post — the two routes it names are the portal and the Center's office in person.
Who could apply
The notice set four conditions. Candidates had to be citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the academic requirements were tied to age:
| Level | Prior qualification | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's | Secondary education certificate | Under 25 |
| Master's | Bachelor's degree | Under 35 |
| Doctoral | Master's degree | Under 40 |
One extra condition applied to candidates still enrolled in an educational programme: they had to provide a notarised certificate of graduation status from their school, college or university, showing the expected graduation date, certified by the academic office and translated into Chinese or English.
Levels and number of places
The notice offered 155 educational grants for the 2024-2025 academic year, across bachelor's, master's and doctoral study. It did not break the 155 places down by level, and it did not name fields of study.
What the grant covered
| Item | What the notice said |
|---|---|
| Tuition | Free |
| Monthly stipend | 2,500 CNY (bachelor's), 3,000 CNY (master's), 3,500 CNY (doctoral) |
| Health insurance | Covered |
| Accommodation | Dormitory |
The notice added that all other expenses had to be covered by the grant recipient. It did not itemise travel, visa or other costs.
Documents
The notice itself is short on the document list. It stated the notarised graduation-status certificate for enrolled candidates, and pointed readers to a memo on document submission, a citizen questionnaire and a medical certificate, all available from the Center. It said detailed information on document submission was in the memo, and it directed readers to the Rules posted on adilet.zan.kz. Beyond that, the notice does not set out the full file.
How candidates were selected
Selection ran in two stages: a personal interview with members of the independent expert commission (online interviews included), then review of candidates' materials and decision-making by the Final Commission. The stated criteria were foreign language proficiency scored on a system, the average grade of the educational document scored on a system, and the assessment of the independent expert commission.
Where scores were equal, clause 17 of the Rules gave priority in this order:
- Orphans and children left without parental care.
- Individuals with disabilities since childhood, and disabled children, where medical conclusions did not contraindicate study at the relevant foreign institution, on submission of a medical certificate in form No. 072/u.
- Children from large families.
- Candidates from rural areas who had lived in rural areas for the last two years.
- Candidates with invitations from foreign higher education institutions, and those already studying at them.
After selection, the lists of recommended candidates were forwarded to the host country. Under subparagraph 4) of clause 21, competition winners were required to return to Kazakhstan after finishing their training abroad and to work there continuously for one year.
Dates for that intake
| Step | Date in the notice |
|---|---|
| Notice published | 22 December 2023 |
| Document submission opened | 25 December 2023 |
| CSC online registration deadline | 29 January 2024 |
| Document submission closed | 31 January 2024 |
These were the dates of that cycle. They are past, and they should be read as history rather than as a schedule.
What the Center reported in September 2024
The September 2024 news item gave several figures, and they should be read separately from the notice above:
- Under the Bolashak programme, more than 12,000 people had been trained at universities worldwide, 138 of them in the People's Republic of China.
- China annually allocated 155 grants under intergovernmental agreements, and in 2024, 151 Kazakhstani students were given the opportunity to study at universities in China.
- In 2024, the Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region provided 50 scholarship places for Kazakhstani citizens, in specialised education (college), undergraduate, master's and doctoral programmes.
That item described the grant as covering free tuition, dormitory accommodation, medical insurance and a student scholarship, without stipend amounts. It named several universities as possible destinations, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and listed fields such as information technology, energy, finance, medicine, engineering and the humanities. Naming them here reports what the Center wrote; it is not a ranking or a recommendation.
Where the next notice will come from
The next call for these grants will come from the same body, the Center for International Programs, on its own site. No dates can be given here: the Center had not published a later call at the time of checking, and the terms above should not be assumed to repeat. Treat any future notice on its own wording.
Questions people ask
Were the grants open to non-Kazakhstani citizens?
The notice required candidates to be citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It did not provide for applicants of other nationalities.
Was there an application fee?
Neither the notice nor the September 2024 news item mentions a fee for applying to the Center. This page says nothing about paid help with applications.
Did the grant cover flights?
The notice listed tuition, the monthly stipend, health insurance and dormitory accommodation, and stated that all other expenses had to be met by the recipient. It does not mention flights or visa costs by name.
How many grants were there?
The December 2023 notice offered 155 grants for the 2024-2025 academic year. The September 2024 news item reported 151 Kazakhstani students given the opportunity to study in China in 2024. Each figure comes from the document named.
Did winners have to go back to Kazakhstan?
Yes. Under subparagraph 4) of clause 21, winners were required to return to Kazakhstan after their training abroad and to work there continuously for one year.
Can I still apply for the 2024-2025 intake?
No. Document submission for that intake closed on 31 January 2024. Anything later will be a new notice from the Center.
Sources
- 155 Educational Grants for Studying in Chinese Universities — JSC Center for International Programs (Bolashak), Kazakhstan
- Scholarship Programs to Study in China — JSC Center for International Programs (Bolashak), Kazakhstan
Checked 10 October 2026. This page is an unofficial summary and is not published by the Center for International Programs or any other body named here; where this page and the official notice differ, the official notice prevails.