The University has entered into an agreement with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) which enables excellent PhD candidates to come to Bath to study for their PhD for four years. The scholarship includes funding for travel between China and the UK, subsistence whilst studying for the four-year programme, and international tuition fees. We aim to recruit up to 10 students each year through this route.

The University will be ready to welcome its first cohort of CSC PhD students for the start of the 2018/19 academic year.

Students will need to identify a supervisor and a project at Bath and apply for a doctoral programme in the usual way, stating clearly that they wish to apply for a CSC-Bath scholarship. If their application is successful, they will be given an unconditional offer to study at Bath, but they will still need to gain funding from CSC.

The most important criteria for CSC when assessing applications are the quality and track record of the supervisor, the quality and significance of the proposed project and the quality of the applicant. As usual, the offer would be subject to English requirements and evidence of their previous qualification.

Whilst the CSC will inform the University which students they are prepared to support, the University of Bath will make the final decision about who to admit.

Students can receive offers from a number of universities across a wide range of countries before deciding which institution and project on which to base their CSC funding application. This is a competitive situation, therefore, not only for students but for institutions who have to compete to be the students’ choice.

The University is inviting staff to use their existing connections in China and elsewhere to identify potential students and encourage them to apply for CSC funding to undertake their PhD programme at the University of Bath.