Recommending Institutions: who can recommend you for the teachers scholarship

The Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025, published by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC), define Recommending Institutions in their preamble. The preamble lists seven kinds of body that may recommend outstanding students and in-service Chinese language teachers for the scholarship. Section III sets out the online steps and the review dates of the 2025 cycle, and Appendix 2 names a reference letter from the head of the Recommending Institution.

See also HSK on this site.

This page covers the 2025 guidelines only. The scholarship is the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship, and the conditions described here apply to that scholarship only.

Who may act as a Recommending Institution

The preamble says that the following bodies are collectively referred to as Recommending Institutions:

• Confucius Institutes
• independent Confucius Classrooms
• selected HSK test centers
• foreign educational institutions
• Chinese language teacher training programs / Chinese departments at foreign universities
• professional associations for Chinese language teaching
• Chinese embassies (consulates) abroad

According to the preamble, these bodies may recommend outstanding students and in-service Chinese language teachers to further their studies in international Chinese language education and related programs at Chinese universities. The preamble calls those universities Host Institutions. The scholarship itself is for eligible Chinese language teachers outside China.

What applicants and Recommending Institutions do online

Section III says that online registration will be available from February 20, 2025, on the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship website. Under section III, applicants may:

• search for Recommending Institutions and Host Institutions;
• submit application materials online;
• track the application process.

Section III says that a successful applicant must confirm with the Host Institutions to go through the procedures of studying in China. The same paragraph says the applicant must register at the Host Institution on the designated date, as stated in the Letter of Admission.

For Recommending Institutions, section III gives one task with a date: the review. Section III names no online step for Recommending Institutions other than that review.

Review dates of the 2025 cycle

Section III, item by item, sets these deadlines (Beijing Time):

Section III says that CLEC will entrust an expert panel to review the applications. It also says that decisions will be based on HSK and HSKK levels and scores, geographical distribution, and other factors. The results will be announced about three months before the program starts.

All dates on this page belong to the 2025 cycle and have passed. Read the guidelines for the current year before you plan an application.

The reference letter

Appendix 2 lists application materials under the heading "For all applicants". Item A(c) in that list is "a reference letter by the head of the Recommending Institution". Item A(c) names the head of the Recommending Institution as the writer of that letter.

Item A(b), under the same heading, lists score reports of the HSK/HSKK tests, within the two-year validity. This site does not describe HSK or HSKK test content.

Sources

• Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025, Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC, chinese.cn)

Checked 10 October 2026.

This page is an unofficial summary. It is not legal or immigration advice, and 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.