Bilateral Program: the Chinese Government Scholarship route through your home country's dispatching department

The Bilateral Program is one of four scholarship categories in the Chinese Government Scholarship, as set out in the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship published by the China Scholarship Council (Campus China). The program accords with cooperation and exchange agreements or consensus reached by the Chinese government and the governments and institutions of other nations. Under this category, an applicant files the application with the dispatching department of their home country.

See also Scholarships on this site.

What the official text says

Section I(I) of the guide states the following.

• Basis: the program accords with cooperation and exchange agreements or consensus reached by the Chinese government and the governments and institutions of other nations.
• Who it is open to: undergraduates, postgraduates, general and senior scholars.
• Where to file: an applicant shall file an application with the dispatching department of their home countries.

Section I(I) does not define "dispatching department" and names no particular department.

Section V sets out the application process. Four of its seven items name the application receiving agency or the CSC in their steps. Items 3, 5 and 7 concern the agency directly:

1. Reach an application receiving agency for a recommendation (Section V, item 3).
2. The application receiving agency submits the recommended candidates list and the application documents (Section V, item 5).
3. The CSC notifies the admission results to the application receiving agency (Section V, item 7).

Item 7 also states that the application receiving agency will subsequently have the applicant informed.

Related terms

• University Program (Section I(II))
• Designated Scholarship Programs (Section I(III))
• Student Exchange Program (Section I(IV))
• Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship, submitted online via the Chinese Government Scholarship Information System (Section V, item 4)
• Application receiving agency (Section V, items 3, 5 and 7)

Sources

• Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship, China Scholarship Council (Campus China)

Checked 11 October 2026.

This entry is an unofficial summary, is not legal or immigration advice, and is not published by the bodies named; the official text and the instructions of the body handling your case prevail if they differ.