China Scholarship Council (CSC) University of Sussex Scholarships (2027)

What you get

Sussex will cover international tuition fees for 3 years and Pre-submission fees for 6 months - 4 years international fees in the Business School. Sussex will also provide a budget for research and training costs - laboratory consumables, participant costs, conference attendance.  CSC will provide a living allowance.

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following criteria in order to be considered for the award:

• Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria set by the CSC
• Applicants must commence their academic studies in the United Kingdom in September 2027 or January 2028.
• Applicants must be citizens of the People's Republic of China at the time of application, and either permanently resident in China or studying overseas. Those working overseas are not eligible.
• Applicants must be classified as an international fee paying Chinese student
• Successful candidates must return to China upon completion of their studies
• Applicants must meet the University's  English Language Requirements which are higher for Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences subjects. (Candidates with a PhD offer that is conditional on obtaining English language qualifications are not considered eligible for an award by CSC, wheras candidates with conditional offers dependent on UG or Master's results are eligible to apply for the scholarship.)
• Arts, humanities and social sciences applicants will be expected to hold, by September 2027 or January 2028, the UK equivalent of a first class honours undergraduate degree and a masters degree.

• Science and engineering applicants will be expected to hold, by September 2027 or January 2028, the UK equivalent of a first class honours undergraduate degree and preferably a relevant postgraduate qualification, which will normally be a masters degree.

Please note that:

• Current 1st year Chinese Sussex PhD students at Sussex are eligible to apply
• 1+ 3 Chinese Sussex students who are in their '1' year of their studies (Masters year) are eligible to apply
• Visiting PhD students can apply for a maximum of 12 months

Number of scholarships available

Up to 14 full scholarships and up to 2 12-month Visiting Scholarships

Deadline

How to apply

Applicants will need to complete the online Sussex PhD application form and a Sussex CSC Scholarship register of interest form by the deadline of 11 January 2027. In the Fees and Funding Section of the online application write China Scholarships 2027.

The Sussex fee waiver is for 3.5 years or 4 years for the Business School Integrated PhD programme.

If you have any queries regarding the scholarship then please email pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk 

To secure the Sussex funding, applicants must have both an offer of a PhD place from Sussex and scholarship funding awarded by the China Scholarship Council. 

If you are successful in applying for PhD place, you will receive a PhD offer in late February 2027.  This does not guarantee that we are nominating you for a scholarship.  Sussex letters confirming that we are nominating you for a CSC and will cover your PhD fees if you receive a CSC scholarships will be issued in early March 2027.

Sponsors

• Information for students and researchers from China
• China Scholarship Council application information

Contact us

Please email pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk if you have any queries

Timetable

11 January 2027             Deadline for PhD applications and registering interest in Sussex/CSC awards          

8 March 2027                 Sussex confirms CSC nominations

10 to 31 March 2027       Applications for CSC are open on Chinese portal

Early June 2027             Awards confirmed by CSC and Sussex

If you apply to Sussex after January 11 2027 we may make you an offer of a PhD place, but we will not be able to nominate you for a CSC scholarship.