How are the 330,000 public students selected?
Students studying abroad in public schools are roughly divided into 9 categories, which are strictly selected, guaranteed and low in cost.
Since the founding of New China, public study abroad has been an important part of China’s study abroad. According to statistics, from 1949 to 2019, China sent a total of 331,500 overseas students from various countries. As a non-profit unit responsible for the specific implementation of the national public study abroad, the National Scholarship Fund Committee (hereinafter referred to as the "Foundation Committee") has successively signed cooperation agreements with more than 200 world-renowned universities and scientific research institutions, and the public study abroad personnel are distributed in more than 100 countries around the world.
There are rigid requirements for the selected personnel.
Public study abroad means that the state selects talents to go abroad for further study, study for a degree or participate in scientific research projects. Judging from the scope of funding, the state-sponsored study abroad provides scholarships covering living expenses and one round-trip international travel expenses for international students during the study abroad period, but only provides tuition support for some projects. The funding standards of national public scholarships for studying abroad vary from country to country. According to the Instructions for Overseas Students issued by the Committee for Studying abroad, the funding standards for public students sent to a class of countries, such as the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and Singapore, are 150,000 yuan a year. The scholarship standard for overseas students who are sent to second-class countries, such as Russia, Thailand, India, Malaysia and other countries, is 100,000 yuan a year.
The personnel sent by public schools to study abroad can be roughly divided into nine categories: senior research scholars, visiting scholars, postdoctoral students, overseas doctoral students, joint doctoral students, overseas postgraduate students, joint postgraduate students, overseas undergraduate students studying for bachelor’s degrees and undergraduate transfer students. Compared with graduate students, there are fewer candidates for public study abroad at the undergraduate level. In 2019, the Beijing Municipal Committee will no longer implement the national public postgraduate program, which means that the selection of public overseas students is becoming more and more strict.
For public graduate students and public undergraduate students, the application time for optional major projects is mostly concentrated in March each year. In addition to meeting the basic requirements for application, the applicant must also meet the foreign language requirements for studying abroad funded by the National Fund for Studying Abroad and the language requirements of the countries and units studying abroad, such as IELTS (academic), TOEFL, German, French and Italian language proficiency tests. Applicants in the postgraduate category and undergraduate placement category meet the requirements if their foreign language proficiency reaches IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL (IBT)95. In addition, there are a variety of recognition conditions such as the National Foreign Language Proficiency Test (WSK) and the relevant language completion certificate. Applicants only need to meet one of the conditions.
It should be reminded that the Instructions for Students Studying Abroad puts forward hard requirements for public students studying abroad: in principle, the country of study, the status of study abroad and the duration of study abroad cannot be changed during their study abroad; Regularly review the academic level of some public graduate students and link them with scholarships; In some projects, international students need to return to China for a period of time after they have completed their studies.
"It is a special honor to study abroad in public."
An Ran (pseudonym), who studied in Beijing Foreign Studies University as an undergraduate, is a public student. Through the research on international and regional issues and the high-level foreign language talent training program, she successfully applied for the qualification of studying abroad in a country in South Asia, but she has not yet gone abroad due to the epidemic.
In her view, it is more suitable for minority professionals who are badly needed for national construction to apply for public study abroad: "Public study abroad is a reciprocal measure, students studying abroad can receive funding, and the state can improve the level of academic research in this field."
"The National Foundation Committee has given many places to study in small language majors." All the students in Enron were approved to study abroad in public schools. Compared with studying abroad at her own expense, she can receive living expenses of about 2,000 yuan per month, and she doesn’t have to bear tuition fees: "Compared with self-funded students, public international students need to report for some activities, but our study abroad program has the double protection of the school and the government."
Like Enron, Yu Jia, a public student, also comes from a minor language major. He studied Korean in Chaohan College of Yanbian University. From April to October, 2019, he studied Korean as an undergraduate student in the College of Literature of Kim Il Sung University in North Korea.
When applying for the qualification of a public international student, the Committee for the Study of the Foundation of the People’s Republic of China asked him to rank within 30% of his major in the same grade and have no failed subjects. Yanbian University’s additional requirements for applicants are that the average academic score is not less than 80 (100%) or the average credit score is not less than 3.2 (4%). The project also needs to provide application forms, resumes, study plans, copies of foreign language proficiency certificates and other materials. He has made the most efforts in the study plan: "I will ask the contents of the study plan during the interview, so I specially asked the tutor to modify it."
Asked about the reasons for choosing a public school to study abroad, Yu Jia said: "The public school study abroad program is supported by scholarships, which can reduce the economic burden brought by going abroad. Compared with self-funded study abroad, because of its strong competition and strict selection procedures, it can be used as a special honor to spur interested students to improve themselves. "
This period of studying abroad in North Korea is the fastest stage of Yu Jia’s professional ability improvement. He is very grateful to the country for the opportunity to study abroad, and said that he wants to be a college teacher in the future and set an example.
Expert: It is best to publish a high-level paper before applying.
Generally speaking, there are the following procedures for applying for public study abroad: understanding the selection plan according to the selection brochure of the year, inquiring about the declarable items according to the status of studying abroad and the country to be studied abroad, preparing for the preliminary application according to the requirements of the proposed application items and the sending channels, registering online with the consent of the unit, preparing the application materials and submitting the application. Tang Zekun, general manager of Jinghong Education, reminded that applicants must first contact the school to submit relevant materials, which will be reviewed and confirmed by the responsible department of the school and then submitted to the National Scholarship Fund Committee, because the Foundation Committee does not directly accept individual applications.
How to improve the success rate of applicants who have the intention of studying abroad? Tang Zekun said that applicants need to improve their personal comprehensive quality, including professional foundation, academic performance, experience and ability, comprehensive performance, international communication ability (including foreign language level) and development potential. Applicants also need to measure the research level and international recognition of the selected disciplines, and have accumulated in this professional field. Tang Zekun said: "The most intuitive thing is to publish papers in national journals. The higher the grade, the better. This is the focus of school screening."
In addition, we should also pay attention to the academic background of foreign tutors, their influence in the field, their guidance to overseas students in previous years, and the number of students in the same period: "The higher the level of tutors, the higher the passing rate may be."
As a former public school student, Luo Xixi, a doctor of medicine from Zhejiang University and a doctor of joint training from the National University of Singapore, suggested that applicants can choose PETS National English Test, WSK National Foreign Language Proficiency Test, IELTS, TOEFL, etc. when submitting English proficiency certificates: "Public school students will screen applicants, and the lack of quantifiable standardized test scores will reduce the competitiveness of applicants." (Yangcheng Evening News reporter Sun Wei Intern Gong Wuyou correspondent Huang Yuying)