Data notes & methodology
Where our data comes from
| Data | Source |
|---|---|
| University corpus & tiers | Provincial MOE "qualified to enroll international students" lists, cross-checked with the CSC-designated university list and the official Study in China directory |
| Admission requirements & tuition | Each university's own international-admission pages — linked on every profile |
| Scholarships | China Scholarship Council (CSC) annual notices and provincial education-department pages |
| Discipline evaluation grades | MOE Degree Centre 4th-round evaluation (published 2017). A+ ≈ top 2%, A ≈ top 2–5%; same-grade universities are not ranked against each other |
| City living data | Editorial research with as-of dates; monthly budgets are estimates, not official figures |
What the three tiers mean
- Top tier — comprehensive international-admission profiles with English-taught programs actively maintained (mostly Double First-Class universities plus internationally-active others).
- Standard — admits international students on a regular basis; most are CSC-designated universities.
- Listed — enrollment-qualified university; we keep a verified listing page with the official contact point. Profiles are upgraded as we verify their admission pages.
Tiers describe our data depth, not university quality. A "Listed" university may be excellent — it means verify directly with them.
Currency policy
Universities publish tuition in CNY or USD — we show whichever the university itself uses, unconverted. Where a CNY-equivalent reference is needed (for filtering and sorting across currencies only), we apply a fixed rate of USD 1 = CNY 7.2, fixed at seed time (September 2026) — it is never displayed as or presented as the official price. Original wording (e.g. "¥ 32,800/year") is preserved on program pages.
Verification dates & staleness
Every data record carries its last-verified date, shown on the page. Records unverified for more than 12 months are flagged. Admission requirements and scholarships change with each academic year — always confirm with the official source linked on each page before making decisions.
The badges
- Double First-Class — China’s elite university initiative (147 universities designated in the 2022 MOE list)
- Project 985 — The original 39 top universities selected in 1998 for world-class development
- Project 211 — 112 universities chosen in the 1990s for key national investment
- C9 League — China’s equivalent of the Ivy League — nine top research universities
Corrections
Data errors happen when official pages change. Each page links its source — if you find a mismatch, the source wins, and we update with the change noted.