Silk Road Scholarship (Belt and Road Chinese Government Scholarship)

Universities currently running active Silk Road Scholarship intakes for the 2026 cycle include Tianjin University, Sun Yat-sen University, and Nanjing University, among others designated by the Ministry of Education. Since each host university sets its own specific majors, quotas, and supporting document requirements within the shared national Silk Road framework, applicants need to check their target university's own admissions office for exact details even though the funding structure is standardized nationally.

Eligibility is restricted to citizens of countries along the Belt and Road Initiative's routes, which includes most of Central, South, and Southeast Asia (including Pakistan), parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. The program aims explicitly at developing future leaders and skilled professionals for these partner countries, so applicants are generally expected to demonstrate how their intended field of study connects to their home country's development needs.

As a CSC Type B award, benefits are fully funded: free tuition, free on-campus accommodation, a monthly living stipend, and comprehensive medical insurance, matching the standard Chinese Government Scholarship benefit structure used across the CSC program. It is open at the Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD levels, depending on the specific host university's designated Silk Road quota for that year.

Because it flows through the standard CSC application infrastructure at the host-university level, applicants typically apply either through the Chinese embassy/consulate in their home country (specifying the Silk Road Program) or directly to the host university's international admissions office (agency-type application), following the same broad CSC document checklist plus any university-specific forms.