Entrance tests and assessment: what a school may hold before admitting you

Yes. Under Article 12 of the Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Order No. 42), a school shall test or assess foreign applicants before admission. Section 2.2 of the Quality Standards for the Higher Education of International Students in China (Trial), issued by Ministry of Education notice Jiao Wai [2018] No. 50, says the test or assessment must ensure that admitted students reach the school's set entrance standard.

See also Routes on this site.

Both documents are published in Chinese. The English wording here is this site's own translation of the Chinese text.

What Article 12 requires

Article 12 of Order No. 42 contains four rules:

• The school shall check the admission qualifications and financial guarantee proofs of the foreign citizens who apply.
• The school shall test or assess them.
• The school decides the admission of international students.
• The school may not admit applicants who do not meet the admission conditions.

Article 12 names no examination subject, no test format and no score.

What Section 2.2 adds

Section 2.2 of the Quality Standards has two paragraphs.

The first paragraph says:

• A university shall test or assess the foreign applicants for admission, to ensure that admitted students reach the set entrance standard.
• A university should develop and carry out its own entrance examination, alone or together with other universities, in a form that fits its actual conditions and meets the assessment requirements.

The second paragraph says a university shall set out, on the basis of research into the education of its main source countries, the academic level requirement and the evaluation method for international students. It names the grounds for judging an applicant's academic level as:

• academic results and academic achievements in the applicant's education;
• results in Chinese national education examinations;
• results in foreign education examinations that have credibility.

Section 2.2 names no particular examination and no score.

What the rules leave to each university

Section 2 requires universities to publish admission information truthfully, accurately and comprehensively. It requires admission to follow norms, openness and fairness. It leaves the test and assessment methods to each university, which shall make them reasonable.

For the test format, dates and details of a particular school, the school's own admission information is the document to read. Section 2 requires that information to be published.

Questions

Is there a national entrance exam for Chinese language students?

The documents covered here name no national entrance examination. Article 12 of Order No. 42 says the school tests or assesses the applicant. Section 2.2 of the Quality Standards says a university should develop its own entrance examination, alone or together with other universities.

Does a result from a Chinese exam count toward admission?

Section 2.2 lists results in Chinese national education examinations among the grounds for judging an applicant's academic level. Section 2.2 names no particular exam and no score for this purpose.

Sources

• Quality Standards for the Higher Education of International Students in China (Trial), Ministry of Education of the PRC
• Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Order No. 42), Ministry of Education of the PRC

Checked 11 October 2026.

This page is an unofficial summary and is not legal or immigration advice. It is not published by the bodies named. If it differs from the official text or from the instructions of the body handling your case, the official text and those instructions prevail.