Surrey Uni signs agreement with China Scholarship Council

The agreement will initially allow 10 Chinese PhD students opportunities to study at the British institution, through the new joint CSC-Surrey Scholarship.

Surrey has now become one of an “exclusive” group of universities to join forces with the CSC, following in the footsteps of institutions like Southampton, St Andrews and Loughborough.

The CSC itself is a non-profit that has ties with the Ministry of Education in China, and manages the China Scholarship Fund, which provides financial support to almost 30,000 Chinese students a year to study abroad.

“This agreement is a significant milestone for Surrey’s international strategy as we look to deepen our research collaborations with partners in China,” said Amelia Hadfield, dean International at Surrey.

The scheme, which will offer fully-funded scholarships, will cover tuition fees and stipend for “up to four years”, all with return flights to the institution.

Kate Gleeson, who is director of doctoral college at Surrey, was optimistic about the future following the signing of the agreement.

“Through this new agreement we look forward to supporting many more CSC scholars to join our vibrant international PhD community,” she said upon the announcement.

“We look forward to supporting many more CSC scholars to join our vibrant international PhD community”

“We welcome their invaluable contribution to Surrey’s research activities and to enriching the research community during their time at Surrey.”

The call to apply lists a few certain areas that have been deemed “particularly desirable” – these include communication systems, space and materials, infection and immunity, sustainability, electrical/electronic engineering and computer science.

A total of 10 fully-funded PhD studentships will be available for the first cohort, which will commence study in 2022.

The partners go on to say that the scholarship will allow students the “opportunity to work with world class academics on exciting research projects that tackle major challenges”.

“I would like to thank CSC for their important work in facilitating UK-China collaborative research links and for the support it provides Chinese students to study abroad,” said Hadfield.

“I have every confidence that, with the signing of this agreement, our relationship will go from strength to strength.”