To Education Departments (or Education Commissions) of Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Education Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and Education Sections of other Departments concerned, higher education institutions concerned:

In order to ensure the educational quality of international undergraduate students and to improve the effect of the Chinese Government Scholarship Programme, based on previous pilot projects, and in accordance with the Regulations over Admission of International Students into Higher Education Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the RAIS), the Ministry of Education of China (hereinafter referred to as MOE) decided to launch the Foundation Programme since 1 September 2009 for new international undergraduate students awarded with Chinese Government Scholarships before they begin their disciplinary courses. The specific requirements are as follows

1. Enrolment and Administrative Duties

The MOE entrusts higher education institutions (hereinafter referred to as the HEIs) with rich experience in international education to launch the Foundation Programme. China Scholarship Council (hereinafter referred to as CSC) is entrusted by the MOE to coordinate routine affairs, such as enrolment and management of the Foundation Programme, to organise syllabus development of compulsory courses and certain optional courses of the Foundation Programme, to arrange the compilation of teaching materials and teaching reference books, and to gradually establish an evaluation system for the complete and dynamic assessment of the students’ academic performance.

2. Target Students

All international students with Chinese Government Scholarships who undertake undergraduate programmes taught in Chinese are subject to the Foundation Programme. However, students who satisfy the following requirements can be exempted from the Foundation Programme:

- Those who submit proof issued by their secondary schools showing that Chinese is the instruction medium in the required courses of their secondary education; or

- Those who hold copies of HSK Certificate (generally valid for two years) that confirm their meeting of the standards set for relevant disciplinary courses.