Fully funded scholarships in China: what 'full scholarship' covers in each official notice
Sources checked · Unofficial summary
"Full scholarship" is not one fixed package in China. Each notice writes its own list, and the lists differ: the Chinese Government Scholarship Application Guide names tuition, housing, a stipend and medical insurance but says nothing about airfare or a settlement fee, while the MOFCOM and ASEAN-China Young Leaders notices name all six items. The Youth of Excellence Scheme of China notice goes the other way and states only "Coverage: Full scholarship" without breaking it down.
The matrix
| Notice | Tuition | Housing | Stipend | Medical insurance | Airfare | Settlement fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Government Scholarship (Application Guide) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| MOFCOM Scholarship–CSC Program | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship (ACYLS) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Chinese Trade Unions Silk Road Scholarship | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not mentioned |
| International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship (2025 guidelines) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Youth of Excellence Scheme of China | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
"Not mentioned" means the notice does not name that item. It is not a statement that the item is excluded, and it is not a promise either. The Youth of Excellence row is different from the others: that notice does not itemise coverage at all, so no cell in it can be read as a "no". The amounts behind each "yes" are set notice by notice and are not reproduced here, because the point of the comparison is which items appear at all.
What the Chinese Government Scholarship Application Guide lists
The Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship, published by the China Scholarship Council on Campus China, gives four items: tuition fees; free university dormitory or accommodation subsidy; a monthly stipend with separate rates for undergraduates, master's students and general scholars, and doctoral students and senior scholars; and comprehensive medical insurance, priced per person per year with a lower figure for programmes lasting less than six months.
Airfare and a settlement fee do not appear in that list. The page carries no publication date and no academic year, so the coverage description cannot be tied to a specific intake from the page itself.
What MOFCOM adds
The MOFCOM SCHOLARSHIP-CSC Program (Enrollment Guide) is the notice that spells out the most. Students are exempt from tuition fee, teaching material fee, research and survey fee, the allowance of an English-taught programme, and the dissertation guidance fee. On top of that it lists free on-campus accommodation, a monthly stipend, a one-off resettlement fee, free medical insurance for international students, and airfare in two parts: one round trip for the first flight to China after enrolment and the flight home at graduation, plus a maximum of "n-1" round-trip airfares for home visits, one per year, where n is the length of schooling set at enrolment and is at most three.
Two conditions come with it. The annual review is compulsory for all students, and only those who pass continue to receive the full scholarship in the following year. The Ministry of Commerce also provides financial assistance only within the enrolled academic duration; students who postpone graduation do not receive continuing sponsorship. The page gives no deadline date and tells applicants to consult the application receiving authority for the deadline of each year.
ACYLS and the Silk Road scholarship
The Guidebook to the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship describes a full scholarship covering tuition waiver and other school fees, accommodation, round-trip international air fare, comprehensive medical insurance and stipends. Its coverage section adds detail: tuition is entirely covered and funds go directly to host universities, with a note that tuition for some majors such as the MBA may be exceptionally high and is decided case by case; accommodation is a university dormitory with a single room per recipient; the stipend is paid monthly with a rule that registration on or before the 15th earns a full month and later registration earns half, that graduating students receive a further half month, and that the stipend stops if a student stays outside China for more than 15 days for personal reasons, school holidays excluded; and recipients receive a one-time settlement fee on registration. Airfare is economy class between the home country and the host university city. Performance is subject to annual review by the China Scholarship Council and the host universities, and failure to pass may result in expulsion and cancellation of the scholarship. The focal point list on the page is headed "As of 2026"; the page gives no application deadline.
The Chinese Trade Unions Silk Road Scholarship page covers a narrower case: one academic year of Chinese language study, funded by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, at a designated university. It lists the same five items as ACYLS — tuition, accommodation, stipend, medical insurance and a one-time international round-trip air fare — but no settlement fee. Its airfare rule is also stricter: return tickets are provided only upon completion of study. The stipend follows the same 15th-of-the-month and absence rules as ACYLS. The page gives no academic year and no deadline date.
The International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship
The Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025, published by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, states that the scholarship supports tuition, accommodation, a living allowance — its word, and explicitly excluding four-week study programme students — and comprehensive medical insurance. Host institutions use the tuition for education and management, cultural programming and HSK tests, and online programmes receive tuition support only. Accommodation is free on-campus, typically in double rooms; with approval a recipient may live off campus, in which case doctoral students receive a monthly accommodation allowance and other students a smaller one.
The notice names no airfare and no settlement fee. It is dated January 2025 and was written for programmes starting between July 2025 and March 2026; those dates belong to that cycle and have passed.
The one notice that does not say what "full" means
The Youth of Excellence Scheme of China Program notice gives numbers and structure — 200 students, master's students, English as the teaching language, a curriculum of 12 months in principle, with some programmes following a "1+1" pattern — and then states coverage in a single line: "Coverage: Full scholarship". It does not list tuition, housing, stipend, insurance, airfare or a settlement fee. Anyone comparing it with the other five notices has to treat its meaning of "full" as undefined by that page. The notice is for the 2026 intake, with an online application deadline of 23:59 on 31 March 2026 (GMT+8); that deadline has passed and no notice for the following intake had appeared on the page when it was checked.
Where the notices actually differ
Airfare and the settlement fee are the two items that split them. Two notices name both, one names airfare only, two name neither, and one names no items at all. The other differences are conditions rather than items: an annual review that can end the scholarship, a funding period limited to the enrolled duration, a return ticket released only after completion, tuition decided case by case for some majors, and stipend rules that depend on registration date and on time spent outside China.
Questions people ask
Is "full scholarship" one standard package in China?
No. Each notice writes its own coverage list, and the six notices compared here disagree on whether airfare and a settlement fee are included. The Chinese Government Scholarship Application Guide lists four items; the MOFCOM and ACYLS notices list six.
Does the Chinese Government Scholarship pay for flights?
The Application Guide's coverage section does not mention airfare. It lists tuition, housing, a stipend and medical insurance, and nothing about travel.
What does the Youth of Excellence Scheme of China say its full scholarship includes?
The notice states only "Coverage: Full scholarship". It does not itemise tuition, accommodation, stipend, insurance, airfare or a settlement fee anywhere on the page.
Can the scholarship stop after the first year?
Yes, in the programmes that say so. The MOFCOM guide makes the annual review compulsory and says only those who pass continue to receive the full scholarship in the next year; the ACYLS guide says failure to pass the review may result in expulsion and cancellation of the scholarship.
Does the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship cover airfare?
The 2025 guidelines name tuition, accommodation, a living allowance and comprehensive medical insurance, and mention no airfare and no settlement fee.
Sources
- Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship — China Scholarship Council (Campus China, campuschina.org)
- MOFCOM SCHOLARSHIP-CSC Program (Enrollment Guide) — China Scholarship Council (Campus China, campuschina.org)
- Guidebook to the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship — China Scholarship Council (Campus China, campuschina.org)
- Chinese Trade Unions Silk Road Scholarship — China Scholarship Council (Campus China, campuschina.org)
- Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025 — Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC, chinese.cn)
- Youth of Excellence Scheme of China Program Chinese Government Scholarship — China Scholarship Council (Campus China, campuschina.org)
Checked 10 October 2026. This page is an unofficial summary; it is not published by the China Scholarship Council, Campus China, CLEC or any university, and where this summary and the official notice differ, the official notice prevails.