Chinese Government Scholarship Bilateral Program: what a 'dispatching department' is and who to ask
Sources checked · Unofficial summary
Under the Bilateral Program, the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship says an applicant shall file an application with the dispatching department of their home countries. That is a body in your own country, under the guide's wording, and the guide does not name it for any country. So the practical step is to identify the office in your country that handles government-to-government scholarships, or to write to the CSC regional admission desk that covers your region.
What the Bilateral Program is, according to the guide
The guide describes the program in one short passage:
- The program accords with the cooperation and exchange agreements or consensus reached by the Chinese government and the governments and institutions of other nations.
- It is open to undergraduates, postgraduates, general and senior scholars.
- An applicant shall file an application with the dispatching department of their home countries.
That is the whole of what the guide says about the category. Section I(I) of the guide does not describe an application form, a deadline, a quota, or a list of participating countries for this program.
What "the dispatching department of their home countries" means
The guide uses the phrase once, in Section I(I), and does not define it. Read literally, it is the authority in the applicant's own country that receives the application under this program. The guide does not say which ministry, council, or office that is; it does not give a title, an address, or a web page for it; and it does not say how an applicant is supposed to find it.
What the guide does make clear is the direction of the relationship. This is a program that rests on agreements or consensus between governments and institutions, and the application starts on the home-country side rather than inside China.
The guide does not name the body for any country
The guide's table of designated scholarship programs names a receiving agency for some other programs: the National Commission for UNESCO in the home country for the Great Wall Program, the Office for Education and Culture of the Mission of the PRC to the EU for the EU Program, the AUN Secretariat for the AUN Program, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat for the PIF Program, and WMO for the WMO Program. The Bilateral Program is not in that table, and no equivalent body is named for it anywhere on the page.
Because the guide is silent, the honest answer to "which office is mine?" is that the guide does not say. Do not fill that gap with a name taken from another program.
Who you can ask: the CSC regional admission desks
The guide's contact section lists four regional desks at the Division of International Students Admission and Cooperation Programs, China Scholarship Council. These are institutional mailboxes, not personal addresses.
| Region | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | asia-admission@csc.edu.cn | 0086-10-66093584 |
| Africa | africa-admission@csc.edu.cn | 0086-10-66093924 |
| Europe | europe-admission@csc.edu.cn | 0086-10-66093921 |
| America & Oceania | americas-admission@csc.edu.cn, oceania-admission@csc.edu.cn | 0086-10-66093578 |
The guide also gives the postal address as Level 13, Building A3, No.9 Chegongzhuang Avenue, Beijing, P.R. China, postcode 100044, and the website as http://www.campuschina.org.
How the guide describes the application process
The guide sets out one application process for the scholarship. In its words:
- An applicant shall learn about designated Chinese universities and the majors they offer, and identify the preferred scholarship program, designated university and major.
- An applicant shall reach the designated university for admission documents.
- An applicant shall reach an application receiving agency for a recommendation.
- An applicant shall fill in and submit the Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship online through the Chinese Government Scholarship Information System.
- The application receiving agency shall submit the recommended candidates list and their application documents.
- The CSC will organize designated universities and experts concerned to examine applicants' eligibility and academic performance before finalizing the short-list candidates.
- The CSC will notify the admission results to the application receiving agency, which will subsequently have the applicant informed.
The Bilateral Program section does not repeat these steps and does not name the dispatching department inside them. The guide does not state that the dispatching department is the same body as the application receiving agency mentioned in the process section.
Questions people ask
Does the guide tell me which office is the dispatching department in my country?
No. The Bilateral Program passage says an applicant shall file an application with the dispatching department of their home countries and gives no name, address, or link. The regional admission desk email for your region is listed in the guide and is the contact the guide itself publishes.
Can I send my Bilateral Program application straight to a Chinese university?
The guide says an applicant under this program shall file an application with the dispatching department of their home countries. It separately says that an applicant shall reach the designated university for admission documents as step 2 of the application process. Section I(I) does not describe what happens if an application is sent to a university instead.
Who tells me whether I was admitted?
Step 7 of the guide's application process says the CSC will notify the admission results to the application receiving agency, which will subsequently have the applicant informed. The Bilateral Program passage does not describe how results reach the applicant.
Does the guide give a deadline for this program?
No. Section I(I) of the guide sets out no dates and no deadline for the Bilateral Program.
Sources
- Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship — China Scholarship Council (Campus China, campuschina.org)
Checked October 10, 2026
This page is an unofficial summary written by China Scholarships Index; it is not published by the China Scholarship Council, Campus China or any university, and the official notice prevails wherever the two differ.