Bachelor's, master's, doctoral and the language year before them. The requirements, the age limits and the funding are not the same, and neither is the advice.
| Level | Duration | Scholarship age limit | Tuition / yr (CNY) | Universities we cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's degree | 4 years (5 for architecture, 6 for medicine) | Under 25 for the government scholarship | 14,000–45,000 | 45 |
| Master's degree | 2–3 years | Under 35 for the government scholarship | 14,000–90,000 | 45 |
| Doctoral degree | 3–4 years | Under 40 for the government scholarship | 20,000–36,000 | 41 |
| Chinese language year | 1 semester to 2 years | 17 and over | 12,000–26,000 | 12 |
Tuition bands are the range across the programmes we list at that level, not a quote. Confirm the current fee with each university.
Applicants usually start with a university name. The level determines your documents, your language requirement, your age eligibility and your funding, so it is the first thing to fix.
The longest commitment, the most Chinese-taught teaching, and the level where the language year pays off most.
Open the guide →The level with the widest English-taught catalogue, and the one most international students actually take.
Open the guide →The most heavily funded level, and the one where a single supervisor decides everything.
Open the guide →Not a degree, but the most common way into one — and the cheapest way to find out if this is for you.
Open the guide →Three of the four levels above are taught in Chinese by default, and the English-taught catalogue narrows as you move away from business, computing and engineering. If your Chinese is at zero, the decision is not which degree — it is whether to spend a year on the language first. That choice sets your timeline more than any other.
Tell us your current qualification, age and target field. We will say which level is realistic, what the language requirement actually is, and where the funding closes.