For Prospective PhD Students

We invite you to browse the websites of the five UMCG research institutes or download the brochure. You can find more information about the PhD curriculum on the PhD development training page of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

Chinese students applying for a PhD position through the China Scholarship Council must meet the following requirements:

• You are a Chinese student graduated from a Chinese or international university
• You are in the final year of your master's degree or in the first year of your PhD studies at the time of the application, or you are employed by a Chinese company, organization, governmental agency or research institute
• You would like to apply to CSC funding for a full PhD scholarship (max. 48 months) at the University of Groningen/UMCG, or a sandwich PhD scholarship (max. 24 months) in case you are already enrolled in a PhD program in China
• You meet the selection criteria set out by CSC by completing the CSC Application Form and the CSC Employer Reference Form which can be found on  the website of the China Scholarship Council
• You are able to submit official proof of proficiency in English: TOEFL iBT 92 (minimum skill score 20; TOEFL iBT Home Edition test scores are acceptable) or IELTS 6.5 (with a minimum band score of 6.0 on each individual part).
• Your supervisor at the University of Groningen/UMCG has accepted you and obtained a letter of acceptance from the Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Your supervisor has positively assessed important criteria for admission, such as your academic qualifications as well as proficiency in English
• You agree to return to China upon completion of your PhD project in case you will be awarded the CSC scholarship

All students who have been admitted to the UG PhD program with a CSC PhD scholarship will receive a top-up of their CSC scholarship. Read more about this unique UG policy here. As an admitted PhD student, you will (also) defend your PhD thesis at UG.

• IMPORTANT:

The GSMS is the only authoritative body responsible for admitting CSC scholarship candidates to its PhD program. As of the academic year 2023-2024, the GSMS will no longer admit candidates who have not followed the specified process outlined on this webpage.

This means that if you received a Letter of Acceptance from an individual supervisor and not from the GSMS you will not be admitted to the GSMS PhD program even if you have been selected by CSC to receive the PhD scholarship.

However, in the case you are not able to provide a valid proof of English proficiency before the deadline for obtaining a Letter of Acceptance, the GSMS may decide to issue a conditional Letter of Acceptance provided that you have the support of your supervisor. But please note that this proof of English proficiency will have to be provided at a later stage in order to finalize your admission to the PhD program.

Feel free to contact us for any questions.

CSC channel

CSC applicants to a full PhD (3-4 years) at the University of Groningen (UG) may apply via both the CSC "cooperation channel" as well as the "individual channel". In accordance with the agreement between UG and CSC, students applying through the cooperation channel compete amongst each other for the full PhD scholarships reserved by CSC for UG, a total of 75 in 2023. Students applying through the individual channel compete with all other Chinese applicants to CSC.

Note that this information does not apply to Chinese students who are already enrolled in a PhD program and wish to apply to a Sandwich PhD position of up to 24 months at UG or visiting scholars; they should follow the instructions on the CSC website and always apply through the CSC "individual channel".

For UMCG Supervisors

• The primary responsibility for the evaluation of the Chinese prospective PhD candidates lies with you. Both academic skills and proficiency in English are extremely important. We require official proof of proficiency in English (see Section "Letter of Acceptance"). Additionally, the Graduate School of Medical Sciences trusts that language skills will have been thoroughly checked by you as a supervisor via (online) interviews. This should be confirmed by you via a "Supervisor Statement".
• As of 2023-2024, all UMCG supervisors are additionally required to perform a "knowledge security self-assessment" in case they agree to supervise a (prospective) PhD candidate who has/intends to be supported by an international scholarship agency. See the next section for more information.
• You should request the letter of acceptance for your Chinese CSC candidate by submitting the documentation requested below Mathilde Pekelaer of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Incomplete requests may not be taken into account. The deadline to obtain a Letter of Acceptance for the 2024 CSC round is 10 March 2024. 
• By requesting a Letter of Acceptance, you commit to submitting a Research Proposal to the Graduate School within one month of the candidate having been awarded the CSC scholarship (see "After award"). We however strongly recommend to start the process of drafting a Research Proposal at an earlier stage so that you may assess the qualifications of the candidate. The GSMS only accepts research proposals that follow the template that can be downloaded from this webpage.
• In case of questions or doubts about the Chinese Higher Education system, you may contact Ms. Jing Zheng of the department for International Strategy and Relations at the University of Groningen
• The official application period for Chinese candidates to apply to CSC is from 10 to 31 March 2024. In most cases, the student's home university will conduct a pre-selection of the candidates they will propose to CSC. These deadlines vary per university, but may sometimes be as early as December. Therefore, consult with your candidate about internal university deadlines.
• The results of the CSC 2024 application round we expect to be published in May or early June 2024. Due to practicalities such as visa applications, a realistic possible start date of the PhD project in Groningen is 1 October of the same year, or later. Note that a December start date is not possible due to internal administrative processes.

In accordance with the agreement between CSC and the University of Groningen, the CSC scholarship covers a maximum of 48 months of individual student costs. The University of Groningen waives all institutional fees. UMCG supervisors receive the standard bench fee for externally financed CSC candidates from the Graduate School of Medical Sciences for the period of research at Groningen, with a maximum of 4 years.

In addition to full PhD scholarships, CSC also provides sandwich PhD scholarships up to 24 months. The same internal UMCG admissions procedure applies in case you have a sandwich PhD candidate who would like to apply to CSC.

• IMPORTANT:

CSC will sponsor a maximum of two full PhD candidates (36-48 months) per supervisor. The Graduate School of Medical Sciences will issue a maximum of two Letters of Acceptance per UMCG supervisor. In case the number of eligible candidates exceeds two, supervisors should select the most qualified applicants.

The GSMS is the only authoritative body responsible for admitting CSC scholarship candidates to its PhD program. As of the academic year 2023-2024, the GSMS will no longer admit candidates who have not followed the specified process outlined on this webpage.

This means that any candidate who has received a Letter of Acceptance from an individual supervisor and not the GSMS, will not be admitted to the PhD program even if they have been selected by CSC to receive a PhD scholarship.

It is, however, possible to request a conditional Letter of Acceptance from the GSMS, should candidates not yet have fulfilled the official language requirements before the deadline for obtaining a Letter of Acceptance. But please note that this proof of English proficiency will have to be provided at a later stage in order to finalize the admission of the candidate and for them to be allowed to start the PhD program.

For UMCG Supervisors: Knowledge Security

As of October 2023, all PhD supervisors of prospective externally funded PhD students will also need to carry out a "knowledge security self-assessment". The Dutch government, in relation to geopolitical developments, requires that universities implement measures to ensure due diligence in relation to knowledge security. Note that:

• The self-assessment carried out by you as a supervisor is obligatory
• The self-assessment is primarily a confidential process that is intended to raise awareness of knowledge security issues and the responsibility of supervising staff in this matter. 
• However, in case the outcome of the self-assessment is such, that the supervisor is obliged to consult the University of Groningen’s “Advisory Team Knowledge Security", they are subsequently obliged to inform the GSMS about the outcome of the consultation process.
• Failure to comply with the requirements of this process may result in refusal on the part of the GSMS to issue a Letter of Acceptance in support of the scholarship application of the student, and/or, in extreme cases, subsequent rejection of the PhD candidate for admission to the PhD program of the GSMS. The Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences has mandated the Director of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences to do so.

More information, including the self-assessment form, is available on the UG intranet.

Letter of Acceptance for CSC candidate

In order to prepare the Letter of Acceptance for CSC applicants, UMCG supervisors should provide the Graduate School of Medical Sciences with:

• CV of the candidate
• Proof of proficiency in English of the candidate: TOEFL iBT 92 (minimum skill score 20; TOEFL iBT Home Edition test scores are acceptable) or IELTS 6.5 (with a minimum band score of 6.0 on each individual part); any candidate should submit either a TOEFL or an IELTS test. In case the candidate is not yet able to meet the minimum requirements before the deadline for obtaining a Letter of Acceptance, the GSMS may issue a conditional Letter of Acceptance. However, a valid proof of English proficiency is essential to finalize the admission of the candidate and allow them to start the PhD program.
• A fully completed Request Form (use template)
• Supervisor Statement (use template)

The above documentation should be submitted to the Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Mathilde Pekelaer by 10 March 2024. Incomplete requests may not be taken into account.

Moreover, the Graduate School demands that a research proposal be submitted at the time of application (recommended), or,  at the latest, within one month of scholarship award (see below).

After Award

The following documents will need to be submitted to the GSMS upon scholarship award of the CSC scholarship, to secure admission:

• Within one month of scholarship award: PhD research proposal as discussed and agreed upon between supervisor(s) and candidate, in accordance with the template available here. Note that the research proposal submitted to CSC, should this be in a different format, is not accepted!
• Copy of diploma of highest degree (or, in case degree certificate has not yet been issued: declaration from home university that requirements for degree award have been fulfilled)
• In case the minimum requirements of the GSMS have not yet been met (in exceptional cases): proof of proficiency in English.

We strongly recommend that UMCG PhD supervisor(s) request that the candidate starts the design of the PhD Research Proposal at the earliest possible stage,  as part of the assessment of academic skills & competences.

Information for current UG students

The maximum number of months of funding provided by CSC is 48 for a full PhD trajectory.

In case of students who have already started their PhD at Groningen and who wish to (re-)apply to CSC, it is important to note that:

• In line with CSC policies, the number of months they have already carried out their PhD research at Groningen will be subtracted from this maximum number of scholarship months 
• The first possible start date of the CSC scholarship for students who are already conducting research in Groningen is 1 September 2024, considering that: (1) the actual implementation of the CSC scholarships takes a few weeks; and (2) the official start date of the academic year in The Netherlands is the first week of September
• The Graduate School of Medical Sciences, in addition to a Letter of Acceptance, will issue an "Education Certificate" stating your registration date as a doctoral researcher to submit with your application to CSC.

Important Deadlines

The deadlines for full PhD applicants (36-48 months) for 2024 have not yet been confirmed by CSC and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences:

• Online application to a full CSC PhD scholarship 2024 by the student: between 10 and 31 March 2024
• Deadline for UMCG Supervisor to request a letter of acceptance with the Graduate School of Medical Sciences: 10 March 2024
• Deadline Graduate School of Medical Sciences to provide supervisor & candidate with a letter of acceptance: 1 week before the CSC online application deadline
• Results published by CSC: late May or early June 2024

The Graduate School will under no circumstances communicate about selection results prior to their official publication by CSC.