MOFCOM Scholarship for Rwandan public servants: the Higher Education Council announcement for 2026-2027
Sources checked · Unofficial summary
Rwanda's Higher Education Council (HEC) announced that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) had offered fully funded Master's and PhD scholarships to the Government of Rwanda for the 2026–2027 academic year, and said the places were open specifically to public servants. HEC handled the applications itself through its own online portal and set a deadline of 28 April 2026. Everything below comes from that one announcement, and the intake it described has since closed.
This site also carries a separate page on the MOFCOM scholarship, at MOFCOM scholarship. The terms described there belong to that page; the terms below belong only to the Rwandan notice summarised here.
Who received the applications
The notice came from HEC, dated in Kigali on 16 April 2026 and signed digitally for HEC. Candidates sent nothing to China at this stage. The application letter had to be addressed to the Director General of HEC, and everything else went to HEC as well. No part of the announcement described applicants contacting a Chinese university, an embassy, or an agent.
How applications were submitted
Applications had to be submitted online, through the HEC Management Information System (MIS) at https://hecmis.hec.gov.rw/. The notice said all applications had to be submitted that way, and that only complete applications would be considered.
The announcement gave no agency number and asked for no paper copies. Both are absent from the text, so applicants following this notice would have had nothing to post and no code to quote. Alongside the submission route, notice set one substantive choice rule: applicants had to apply for programmes related to their previous academic qualifications, and had to select one programme from the list of forty eligible universities attached to the announcement.
Who could apply
The scholarships were offered under cooperation between the Government of Rwanda and the People's Republic of China. The announcement said they were specifically open to public servants, and repeated the requirement that applicants choose a programme related to their earlier qualifications.
Beyond those two conditions, the notice set out no others. It stated no age limit, no minimum degree classification, and no language test requirement, and it said nothing about years of service. Those gaps are gaps in this document; they are not permissions.
Levels and places
The scholarships covered Master's and PhD programmes starting in the 2026–2027 academic year. The announcement did not state how many places were available, and did not say how they were distributed between the two levels.
The programme list
Annex I to the notice was titled "2026 List of MOFCOM Degree Education Programs" and listed 40 programmes. Every entry carried the prefix "2026"; that prefix is omitted below. The order is the order printed in the annex and is not a ranking, and the table reproduces the programme titles as printed, including their own wording.
| No. | Programme | University | Length (years) | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Master Program in Public Policy | Peking University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 2 | Master Program in Public Administration (National Development) | Peking University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 3 | Doctoral Program in Studies of National Development | Peking University | 3 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2029 |
| 4 | Master Program of Urban and Rural Planing | Beijing Jiaotong University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 5 | Master Program on Traffic and Transportation Engineering | Beijing Jiaotong University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 6 | Master Program of Forest Economics and Policy | Beijing Forestry University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 7 | Master Program of Business Administration | Beijing Normal University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 8 | Master Program of Educational Management and Policies | Northeast Normal University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 9 | International Executive Master of Business Administration (IEMBA) | University of International Business and Economics | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 10 | Master Program in Tourism and Hotel Management | Harbin University of Commerce | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 11 | Master of Industrial Engineering and Management | Hunan University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 12 | Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Program | East China Normal University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 13 | Master Program in Information and Communication Engineering | Huazhong University of Science and Technology | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 14 | Master Program in Public Diplomacy | Jilin University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 15 | Master Program in International Business | Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 16 | Master Program of Public Health | Southern Medical University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 17 | Master Degree Program of Fishery | Nanjing Agricultural University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 18 | Master of Audit Program | Nanjing Audit University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 19 | Master Program of Artificial Intelligence | Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 20 | Master Program of Meteorology | Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 21 | Master Program in Software Engineering | Nankai University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 22 | International Master of Public Administration | Tsinghua University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 23 | Master of Public Administration in International Development and Governance Program | Tsinghua University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 24 | Master Program of Professional Accounting Program | Shanghai National Accounting Institute | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 25 | Master Program in Environmental Engineering | Suzhou University of Science and Technology | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 26 | International Master's Degree Program in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development | Tongji University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 27 | Master Program in International Relations | China Foreign Affairs University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 28 | Master Program of International Law and Chinese Law | Wuhan University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 29 | Master Program of Electrical Engineering | Xi'an Jiaotong University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 30 | Master Program in Rail Transit Electrification and Information Technology | Southwest Jiaotong University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 31 | Master Program in Project Management | Yunnan University of Finance and Economics | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 32 | Master Program of Comparative Education | Zhejiang Normal University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 33 | Master Program in Journalism, Media and Communication (Digital Communication) | Communication University of China | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 34 | Master Program in Journalism, Media and Communication (International Communication) | Communication University of China | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
| 35 | Master Program of Rural Development and Management Studies | China Agricultural University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 36 | Master Program of Development and Governance | Renmin University of China | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 37 | Master Program of Social Work (Women's Leadership and Social Development) | China Women's University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 38 | Master of Advanced Nursing Practice and Medical Technology Program | Central South University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 39 | Master's Degree Program in Transportation Engineering | Central South University | 2 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2028 |
| 40 | Master Program of Public Administration in Chinese Governance | Sun Yat-sen University | 1 | 01/09/2026 | 31/08/2027 |
Dates in the annex are printed in day-month-year order and are reproduced unchanged. The list is dominated by one- and two-year master's programmes; one three-year doctoral programme appears, at Peking University.
What the scholarship covered
The notice said the scholarship covered tuition fees, accommodation, living allowance, international travel, local transport within China, and medical insurance. It attached no amounts to any of these items and no monthly or annual figures anywhere in the text.
Documents HEC asked for
The announcement invited interested candidates to submit nine things:
- An application letter addressed to the Director General of HEC.
- A copy of a National ID or a valid passport.
- A detailed curriculum vitae.
- One passport-size photograph.
- Notarized copies of academic certificates and transcripts.
- A personal statement in English, of up to 1,000 words, covering academic background, work experience, achievements and career plans.
- A recommendation letter from a current or former academic staff member.
- A recommendation letter from the applicant's employer.
- A study plan or research proposal of at least 500 words.
The reference letters carry no word limit in the notice, and no template or form number is given for any item.
Dates, and where the next notice would come from
HEC published the announcement on 16 April 2026 and set its application deadline at 28 April 2026. Twelve days was the whole window. With the programmes in the annex scheduled to begin on 01/09/2026, that intake has passed.
The notice said nothing about a later round, and no deadline in it applies beyond this cycle. The body that issued this announcement was HEC, so a further one would come from HEC as well — but its dates, its programme list and its requirements are not stated here and should be read from that notice itself rather than assumed from this one.
Questions people ask
Who could apply for these scholarships?
The announcement said the scholarships were specifically open to public servants, offered under cooperation between the Government of Rwanda and the People's Republic of China. Applicants also had to apply for a programme related to their previous academic qualifications.
Could applicants apply for more than one programme?
No. The notice said applicants were required to select one programme from the list of forty eligible universities attached to the announcement.
Were paper applications accepted?
The notice described only one route: all applications had to be submitted online through the HEC Management Information System (MIS). It did not provide for posted or hand-delivered copies.
Did the announcement say how many scholarships were on offer?
No. The notice named the levels — Master's and PhD — and said nothing about the number of places at either level.
Did the notice give any amounts in money?
No. It listed what the scholarship covered — tuition, accommodation, living allowance, international travel, local transport within China and medical insurance — but attached no figures to any of them.
Sources
- Higher Education Council announcement: MOFCOM scholarships 2026-2027 (PDF) — Higher Education Council (HEC), Rwanda (hec.gov.rw)
Checked 10 October 2026
This page is an unofficial summary, not published by the Higher Education Council or by any other body named above; where it and the official notice differ, the official notice prevails.