This scheme provides Chinese students who demonstrate academic excellence and leadership potential with the opportunity to study for a DPhil at the University of Oxford.
The scholarships are supported jointly by the China Scholarship Council (on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of Education) and the University of Oxford. Another strand of this scholarship is the China Scholarship Council-PAG Oxford Scholarships. They are funded by PAG, which is one of the regions' largest Asia-focused investment managers. The scholarships enable academically excellent Chinese students to pursue doctoral studies in the Social Sciences and Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences at the University of Oxford.
The scholarship will cover 100% of course fees, a grant for living costs (at least £19,237) and one return flight from China to the UK. Awards are made for the full duration of your fee liability for the agreed course.
Scholarship outcomes
The timeline for this scholarship may differ from that used for other scholarships run by the China Scholarship Council (CSC); the guidance on this page only relates to the CSC’s partnership scholarship with Oxford.
Decisions for 2025-26 entry are expected to be made by the end of June 2025. If you have not heard from us by this time, then please assume that your application has been unsuccessful. Due to the volume of applications we receive, we regret that we are unable to contact unsuccessful applicants individually or provide feedback on applications.
You must be applying to start a new full-time DPhil course at Oxford.
You must be a national of and ordinarily resident in mainland China (not including Hong Kong or Macau). You must also be intending to return to China once your course is completed.
Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic merit, potential to become a leader in your field and potential to become a decision-maker and opinion former within China.
Applicants who hold deferred offers to study in 2025-26 are not eligible to be considered for these scholarships.
In order to be considered for this scholarship, you must submit your application for graduate study by the relevant December/January deadline for your course. See the Courses page for the deadline applicable to your course.
You must also apply separately to the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for this scholarship. Please review the CSC's Scheme introduction webpage for more information.
Please note that the CSC may use different procedures for its other scholarship schemes. Successful applicants will be notified once the Chinese Ministry of Education have approved the selection of new scholars.
To be eligible for consideration for this scholarship, applicants must be successful in being offered a place on their course after consideration of applications received by the relevant December/January deadline for the course. Course applications which are held over after the December/January deadline to be re-evaluated against applications received by the March deadline or course applications which have been put on a waiting list are not eligible for scholarship consideration.
