The ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents (hereinafter referred to as the ANSO Scholarship) was formally launched in 2019 with the goal of training and cultivation of young scientists from all over the world. The ANSO Scholarship supports 200 Master's students and 300 PhD students every year to pursue postgraduate education at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) or institutes of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) around China.

Currently, CAS, the leading founding member of ANSO, is the sponsor of the ANSO Scholarship. ANSO welcomes all members and parties who are interested in creating a more diversified scholarship program together.

Part II: Coverage and duration 

            Master students would be exempted from a tuition fee of RMB 30,000/year.

            PhD students would be exempted from a tuition fee of RMB 40,000/year.

• Monthly stipend:   

           PhD: 6000 or 7000 CNY/month depending on whether he/she has passed the qualification test arranged, of which RMB 1,000 is provided by the CAS Institute.

           Master's: 3000 CNY/month (of which RMB 1,000 is provided by the CAS Institute) and also a monthly accommodation subsidy of RMB 1,000 provided by UCAS，up to 36 months;

• Health insurance 

           The insurance premium is RMB 800/year. Please refer to the www.lxbx.net for the introduction of insurance coverage.

• Application fee waiver 

           Students would be exempted from application processing fee of RMB 600.

• Travel subsidy from their home countries to China (one trip per person)

           A certain amount of travel subsidy from their home countries to China will be provided to the awardees in order to begin the scholarship in China. Any scholarship awardee on site in China, the host country, at the time of application will NOT be eligible for any travel subsidy. 

Awardees are required to finish centralized training in Chinese language, Chinese culture and all required credits as well as practical research and completion of degree thesis at colleges and schools of UCAS or CAS institutes.

Any Master's awardee who fails annual assessments will face the consequences including:

• Termination of his/her scholarship;
• Discontinuity of his/her Master's study;
• Being provided with a certificate of attendance for the period of study undertaken in China but not a formal Master's degree.

Any PhD awardee who fails the qualification test or annual assessment will face the consequences including:

• Termination of his/her scholarship;
• Discontinuity of his/her doctoral study;
• Being provided with a certificate of attendance for the period of study undertaken in China but not a formal doctoral degree.

All the awardees are required to abide by Chinese laws and UCAS regulations and rules.

        Duration (with NO EXTENSION) 

        Master students: no longer than 36 months

        PhD students: no longer than 48 months

Part III: Eligibility 

Eligible applicants must:

• Not hold Chinese citizenship;
• Be proficient in English or Chinese;
• For Master's program applicants: be born after 1^st January 1992 (inclusive);

For PhD program applicants: be born after 1^st January 1987 (inclusive);

• Meet the admission criteria for UCAS international students (please refer to the calls for 2022 Programs for international students);
• Not take up other assignments during the period of his/her scholarship.

Note: 

• If you are currently pursuing a Master's degree at any university/institution in China, you are NOT eligible for the Master's program of this scholarship. If you are currently pursuing a doctoral degree at any university/institution in China, you are NOT eligible for the PhD program of this scholarship. Otherwise, you will be disqualified from admission and the situation will be reported to your current university/institution.
• You are NOT allowed to apply for the ANSO Scholarship in both USTC and UCAS simultaneously, otherwise you will be disqualified from admission.
• Because the education system in some countries is different from that in China, please see Attachment 1 for the degree requirements of applicants.

Part IV: Application Procedure 

1. Application Materials

Please refer to the Call for 2022 Doctoral Programs for International Students and the Call for 2022 Master's Programs for International Students (here). You should verify that you meet ALL the eligibility criteria specified in the “General conditions for applicants” section of this call.

From this year on, it is not mandatory for applicants to find host supervisors before application. 

If the applicant finds a supervisor and got accepted, he or she shall upload the supervisor-signed Provisional Acceptance Form to the online application system.

If the applicant does not find any supervisor, he or she shall choose “I agree to be arranged to a more suitable college/institute/supervisor”, and the arranged supervisor who has interest to accept you shall upload this form to the online application system (The system will send an explanatory email to the supervisor).

Applicants are encouraged to make informal contact with potential supervisors prior to making an application. See here for a list of applicable schools/institutes and supervisors of UCAS. Send an explanatory e-mail together with your CV, transcripts, motivation letter with detailed research proposal and other documents to him/her, and clearly state that you wish to apply for the doctoral students program of UCAS.

2. Application Portal

Please log in the Online Admission System for International Students at UCAS (here) and follow its instructions to finish all the required application procedures. File and submit your application in the system as requested before deadline. Choose “the ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents” in your application.

For the required materials, please refer to the calls for PhD programs and master programs (here). 

Deadline for Applicants and Referees: 

31 March 2022 (Beijing Time) 

Additional Information 

• Awardees must register at the time and place indicated in the Admission Notice. Otherwise, they should apply for extension of their registration.
• The duration of the scholarship stated explicitly in the Admission Notice.
• Registered awardees must abide by relevant rules and regulations of the universities, and attend reviews and examinations, such as the qualifying tests on time. Awardees who fail review or examination will be deprived of their scholarship or their scholarship will be suspended.
• Any work produced and published by the awardees during the funding period of the scholarship must be credited to the institute/school and the university where the awardees are enrolled. Awardees are also required to acknowledge “Sponsored by ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents”.

Contact Information 

Ms. Yuchen Xie (PhD Program)

ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents UCAS Office

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

80 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing, 100190, China

Tel: +86 10 82674900

Fax: +86 10 82672900

Email: phd@ucas.ac.cn 

Ms. Menglin Hu (Master Program)

ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents UCAS Office

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

80 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing, 100190, China

Tel: +86 10 82672900

Fax: +86 10 82672900

Email: master@ucas.ac.cn 

Relevant information 

ANSO (Alliance of International Science Organizations) is a non-profit and non-governmental international scientific organization founded in 2018 by 37 international science and education institutions from around the world. ANSO came into being under the principles of “Extensive Consultation, Joint Contribution and Shared Benefits” championed by the Belt and Road Initiative. ANSO is committed to promoting shared sustainable development and the advancement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through catalyzing and implementing concrete international cooperative initiatives in Science, Technology, Innovation and Capacity Building (STIC). It is envisaged that ANSO will focus on the most urgent regional and global challenges through STIC. This focus includes supporting scientific capacity building and the needs, particularly of the Global South, through partnerships and cooperation with the member countries and institutions. ANSO will also promote collaborations across the scientific and technological communities of the world to ensure that the benefits of the BRI are widely shared. There will be open access to scientific facilities and information among participants in ANSO. The grooming and empowerment of young scientists will be a particular focus of ANSO. The ANSO Scholarship is one of the main approaches to achieve this goal.

Read more about ANSO: http://www.anso.org.cn 

CAS is a national academic institution in China consisting of a comprehensive research and development network, a merit-based learned society and a system of higher education, focusing on natural sciences, technological sciences and high-tech innovation in China. It has 12 branches, 2 universities and more than 100 institutes with around 60,000 staff and 50,000 postgraduate students. It hosts 89 national key labs, 172 CAS key labs, 30 national engineering research centers and about 1,000 field stations throughout China. As a merit-based society, it has five academic divisions. CAS is dedicated to addressing fundamental, strategic and farsighted challenges related to the overall and long-term development of China. CAS is the leading and founding member of ANSO.

Read more about CAS: http://english.cas.cn/ 

UCAS, formerly named Graduate School of CAS, was the first graduate school in China. In 2014, UCAS started enrolling undergraduate students, and since then an intact higher educational system has been established. Being the largest graduate education institution in China, UCAS has over 50,000 ongoing students, and more than half of them are doctoral students. With strong support from CAS institutes all over China, UCAS espouses the philosophy of "The Fusion of Scientific Research and Teaching" as its basic system of education. The disciplines represented at UCAS include all fields of science and 90% engineering. According to the Global University Ranking by Essential Science Indicator (ESI) in September 2019, UCAS ranked No. 1 in China and No. 82 worldwide. As a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), UCAS has established close ties with over 100 world-renowned universities. Based on CAS overseas institutions, UCAS is building overseas joint centers for education and research to promote capacity building on B&R. UCAS is responsible for the enrollment and management of the Master's and doctoral candidates of the ANSO Scholarship Program admitted by UCAS.

Read more about UCAS: https://english.ucas.ac.cn/