How to apply for the Great Wall Fellowship through your National Commission for UNESCO
Sources checked · Unofficial summary
Your Great Wall Fellowship application does not go to UNESCO. It goes to the National Commission for UNESCO in your home country, which selects candidates and forwards nominations to UNESCO. UNESCO states plainly that, because of its intergovernmental character, individual applications will not be accepted; only applications endorsed by a National Commission are considered.
The notice also requires a second, separate step: every candidate must register the same application online in the Chinese Government Scholarship Information System before the deadline. Applications without that online registration are not considered.
Where the application goes, and why not straight to UNESCO
The official notice for the 2026-2027 edition of the UNESCO/People's Republic of China Great Wall Co-Sponsored Fellowships Programme sets the route out in its "Submission and Selection of Candidates" section:
- Applicants submit their application documents through their National Commission.
- The National Commissions of invited Member States select qualified candidates and transmit the online application forms and all application documents of the nominated candidates to UNESCO.
- Educational institutions and other entities cannot nominate candidates; nomination must be made by the National Commission.
The reason given is the intergovernmental character of UNESCO. The notice adds a practical consequence: Member States may set their own recruitment procedures and deadlines, so you should contact your National Commission to learn the specific selection procedure in your country before you start applying.
The steps the notice lists
The "How to Apply?" section gives six steps for that edition.
- Read the Application Guidelines for the 2026-2027 edition to understand the eligible candidature requirements and the submission procedure.
- Contact the National Commission for UNESCO of your home country to ask about the national-level application procedure. A pre-admission letter was mandatory for that edition; if you have an admission notice, pre-admission letter or an invitation from a professor, attach it to your online application.
- Submit your online application with the required supporting documents in the Chinese Government Scholarship Information System (campuschina.org), following the online application instructions for the programme.
- Submit your online application form and all supporting documents to your National Commission for UNESCO.
- Once your National Commission tells you that you are nominated, send your online application form and supporting documents to the programme mailbox given in the notice, thegreatwall@unesco.org.
- Your National Commission submits the nomination letter together with all application documents to UNESCO.
Two details apply across those steps. Only applications nominated by a National Commission are accepted by UNESCO. And online registration in the Chinese Government Scholarship Information System is mandatory for each nominated candidate before the deadline; without it, the notice says you cannot obtain the Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship, which is itself one of the mandatory documents.
Documents and entries named in the notice
| Item | What the notice says |
|---|---|
| Online system | Chinese Government Scholarship Information System (campuschina.org); Annex II gives the instructions |
| Agency Number | 00001; the matched agency name (UNESCO) appears automatically after you enter it |
| Programme Category | Type A Application |
| Pre-admission letter | Mandatory in that edition; may be a pre-admission notice from the international students' admission department, or an invitation letter from the university or a professor |
| Physical examination | The Foreigner Physical Examination Form (Annex III) must be completed in English; the result is valid for 6 months |
| Language certificate | Annex IV, the UNESCO Certificate of Language Knowledge, applies where an international English certificate such as IELTS or TOEFL cannot be provided |
| Documents in other languages | Documents must be in English or Chinese; originals in another language need a notarized English or Chinese translation |
The notice links the Application Guidelines, Annex I (the list of invited Member States), Annex II, Annex III and Annex IV as the useful links for that edition. Those annexes were not read for this page, so nothing here describes their contents beyond the titles the notice gives them.
The two deadlines for the 2026-2027 edition
The notice sets two dates, and they belong to that cycle:
- Friday, 23 January 2026 — the date by which candidates were to submit their applications to the National Commission of their home country.
- Tuesday, 10 February 2026 — the date by which National Commissions were to submit nomination letters and all application documents to UNESCO.
The notice explains the gap between them: the later date is the nomination deadline, while the earlier one exists so that National Commissions have sufficient time for preselection at national level. It also states that candidates who submit incomplete applications, or submit online applications beyond that deadline, will not be considered.
Both dates have passed. The notice is the document that states them as the dates of the 2026-2027 edition.
What happens after nomination
Selection is not made by the National Commission. According to the notice:
- The selection of fellowship recipients is made by the concerned Chinese universities.
- That selection is approved by the Chinese authorities and by UNESCO, taking gender equality and diversity into consideration.
- UNESCO duly informs the National Commissions for UNESCO of the selected fellows.
On notification to candidates, the notice says successful candidates are informed of their selection by UNESCO through an official award letter. It also gives a fallback date: candidates who have received no notification from UNESCO by 15 August 2026 should consider that their application has not been successful.
The notice does not publish acceptance, award or success rates, and no figures of that kind appear in it. It also does not describe any route to renew or extend the fellowship under the same programme; it states this is impossible under the current framework, and that a fellow who continues studying in China with other funding is advised to consult the host university and the China Scholarship Council early.
Questions people ask
Can I send my application directly to UNESCO?
No. The notice states that individual applications will not be accepted by UNESCO and that only applications endorsed by the National Commissions for UNESCO will be considered. You apply through the National Commission of your home country.
Can my university or another organisation nominate me?
No. The notice answers this directly: nomination of applications must be made by the National Commission for UNESCO.
Do I still need to register online if my National Commission nominates me?
Yes. The notice makes online registration in the Chinese Government Scholarship Information System mandatory for each nominated candidate before the application deadline, and says applications without online registration will not be considered. It is also how you obtain the Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship, one of the mandatory documents.
When will I hear whether I was selected?
Successful candidates are informed by UNESCO through an official award letter. The notice adds that candidates who have not received notification from UNESCO by 15 August 2026 should consider their application unsuccessful.
Sources
- UNESCO/The People's Republic of China - The Great Wall Co-Sponsored Fellowships Programme 2026-2027 — UNESCO (unesco.org)
Checked 10 October 2026.
This page is an unofficial summary prepared for China Scholarships Index; it is not published by UNESCO, the China Scholarship Council or any university, and the official notice prevails wherever the two differ.