Yenching Academy 2027 at Peking University: funded master's in China Studies, last date 30 November

If you study or studied at Delhi University, read this first

The Yenching Academy divides Indian institutions into two categories, and the category decides how you apply. Getting this wrong voids the application.

• University of Delhi is a Partner University. The Academy's rule is absolute: *"All students and alumni of Partner Universities are required to apply through their universities."* Partner universities run their own preliminary evaluation and nominate candidates for the Academy's interviews. If you are a DU student or a DU alumnus, you cannot apply on the Academy's portal directly. DU's named contact for this is Dr. Rajiv Ranjan, rranjan1@eas.du.ac.in. Write to that address before you write anything else.
• Ashoka University is a Cooperating University. Those *"do not take part in the pre-selection process"*, and their students and graduates *"should apply directly through the Yenching Academy online admissions portal"*. Ashoka's contact, for advice rather than nomination, is Aniha Brar, aniha.brar@ashoka.edu.in.
• Every other Indian institution: you apply directly on the Academy's portal. No Indian university other than DU appears on the Partner list.

What this is

A two-year master's in China Studies at Peking University in Beijing, taught in English. The Academy takes about 120 new scholars a year from the Chinese mainland and abroad together, and international students are roughly 75% of them.

You graduate with a Master's diploma in China Studies issued by Peking University, and the type of degree follows the research area you pick:

• Politics & International Relations, or Law & Society -> Master of Law in China Studies
• Economics & Management -> Master of Economics in China Studies
• History & Archaeology -> Master of History in China Studies
• Literature & Culture -> Master of Literature in China Studies
• Philosophy & Religion -> Master of Philosophy in China Studies

Your research area does not change which courses you must take — only the diploma you end up with.

The dates, and one that arrives earlier than it looks

• Applications opened 1 September 2026 for the 2027 cohort.
• Applications close 30 November 2026 at 9:00 am Beijing time.
• International finalists are interviewed in the winter or early spring, online. You are contacted about a week before your interview.
• Decisions for international candidates come around April.
• The final Peking University acceptance letter is issued in the summer before you enrol.
• The academic year begins in early September.

Beijing is 2 hours 30 minutes ahead of India. 9:00 am Beijing on 30 November is 6:30 am on 30 November in India — so in practice your last working day is 29 November. Do not plan to submit on the morning of the 30th.

What the money actually covers

This is where most descriptions of Yenching go wrong, because year one and year two are funded differently.

Year one — every admitted scholar receives the Yenching Fellowship:

• Tuition
• Accommodation in the Yenching Academy House on campus
• A monthly stipend
• A travel stipend for one round trip between your base city and Beijing. Your base city must be a city in your country of nationality, and the Academy estimates and calculates the amount.
• Basic medical insurance
• Expenses related to research

Year two — you must apply, and it is conditional:

You can apply for the second-year Yenching Fellowship if you maintained good academic standing *and* plan to stay in Beijing for the second year. It covers tuition, accommodation support (a room on campus or an off-campus housing stipend), basic medical insurance and a monthly stipend.

International students may choose whether to stay in Beijing in year two — you can write your thesis elsewhere. But if you leave, you are not eligible for the second-year fellowship. Second-year scholars who live on campus and take student assistantship roles receive additional funding on top.

No figures are published for the stipend. The Academy lists the components and no amounts anywhere on its site, so this page will not give you a number either — any site quoting you a monthly rupee figure for Yenching is guessing. Ask yca-admissions@pku.edu.cn before you plan a budget.

Who can apply

• Any non-Chinese citizen with a valid passport. An Indian passport is enough. There is no country list and no per-country quota.
• A Bachelor's degree in any field, or you are currently in a Bachelor's programme and will receive your diploma no later than August of the year you enrol.
• You may already hold a master's. International applicants with a master's are welcome, and about 16% of past Yenching Scholars already had one. The Academy states plainly that holding a graduate degree does not favour you in selection.
• Your subject does not have to be China-related. You are not required to have studied China or Chinese before — but you must be strongly interested in doing so, and your application must set out a study plan tied to your career goals.
• An outstanding academic record, and a record of extracurricular achievement, community engagement, social responsibility and leadership potential.
• English proficiency, unless exempt — see below.

Age: no formal limit, but be realistic. The Academy says there is no strict age cut-off, and then says that excluding recipients of the Zhuoyue Scholarship, nobody over the age of 29 has ever been admitted. The average age of an entering scholar is 23.

Who cannot apply, and the paperwork trap

• Chinese citizens do not use this route. Mainland Chinese applicants apply through a separate process and must currently be enrolled as undergraduates at a mainland university.
• If you were once a citizen of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan and have emigrated, you must produce a valid passport or citizenship document dated before 30 April 2021, together with proof that your Chinese nationality was cancelled.
• You cannot be enrolled in another degree programme while at Peking University. If you are holding a place somewhere else, one of them has to go.

How competitive this actually is

About 120 places a year, roughly 90 of them international. Of those international places, the Academy states the spread as 30-35% Europe, 25-30% United States and Canada, and 30-35% the rest of the world.

India sits in that last band, which means Indian applicants compete for roughly 27 to 32 places against every country outside Europe and North America. That is worth knowing before you spend a month on the application — it is not a reason to skip it, but it is a reason to write a serious personal statement rather than a hopeful one.

English requirements

Minimum scores:

• IELTS (Academic): 7.0 overall
• TOEFL (iBT): 100 overall
• Cambridge English Scale (Advanced): 185 overall
• CET 6: 600 overall, and TEM 4 at a pass level of good or above — these two are Chinese-system tests and are not routes an Indian applicant would normally take

You are exempt if English is your native language, or if you graduated from an English-taught degree programme at undergraduate level or above — which covers a large share of Indian graduates. If you did your BA or BTech in English, you very likely need no test at all. Applicants from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan must submit a score regardless.

Three rules here quietly disqualify people:

• Your test must have been taken after 1 September 2025. An older score does not count, however good it is.
• These are not accepted: TOEFL MyBest Scores, TOEFL iBT Home Edition, IELTS Indicator, IELTS Online, IELTS One Skill Retake.
• For IELTS, TOEFL and Cambridge, scores must be sent directly by the test organisation. Choose "Yenching Academy of Peking University" as the recipient when you book the exam — retrofitting this later is slow.

What you have to submit

Everything in English, through the Academy's own portal at apply.yca.pku.edu.cn after creating an account:

• The completed online application form
• A personal statement, 750 words or less
• A statement of research interest, maximum 1500 words, excluding citations
• Your curriculum vitae
• Official transcript(s)
• Diploma(s), or a Certificate of Enrolment if you have not graduated
• Two academic letters of recommendation, in Chinese or English

The recommendation letters carry a hard constraint that catches people out. Peking University accepts letters only from full professors or associate professors, or equivalent titles, and they must come from professors in your intended field of study. A strong letter from an assistant professor, a lecturer, or a professor in an unrelated department does not count. Start this first — it is the one part that cannot be fixed in the final week.

What you actually study

Four courses are compulsory for everyone:

• Topics in China Studies — a lecture series across China-related issues
• China in Transition — team-taught, on China's development after 1978 through economy, society and culture, politics and law, and environment and health
• A week-long Field Study Trip to historical and cultural sites and modern industrial parks
• Academic Writing — practical workshops

The Chinese language course is compulsory for international scholars. You can apply to waive it if your Chinese is already strong, and take Chinese-taught Peking University courses instead. Beyond that you choose electives freely from any of the six research areas.

To graduate, international scholars need at least 31 credits and a passed master's thesis. Mainland Chinese students need 34 and additional required courses.

A thesis is required. Every scholar writes one under an advisor and defends it orally before an academic committee. International students who have left Beijing may defend over Skype with their advisor's permission. The thesis must be completed and defended within two years of enrolment. Degrees are awarded in January and July.

Living there

Scholars live in newly renovated rooms in the Shaoyuan 6 dormitory on the Peking University campus. Most are in two-bedroom suites, sharing a bathroom with one other person of the same gender. Living on campus is compulsory in year one.

The calendar follows Peking University: the year starts in early September and the spring semester ends in early July, with a week-long break around Chinese National Day on 1 October and a month-long break for Chinese New Year in January or February.

Where scholars go afterwards

The Academy reports that roughly 30% of its scholars go on to PhD study, at universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Duke, the University of Chicago, Georgetown and Peking University itself. Alumni employers it names include UNESCO, UNDP, the European Commission, the British Embassy in Beijing, Google, Huawei, Xiaomi, Lenovo, The Associated Press, Tencent, the Indian Political Action Committee, the Singapore Police Force, the Bank of Korea and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

Career advising is provided, and internships and volunteering are encouraged in the second year.

If you are not selected

You may reapply the following year. The Academy asks that you be able to explain how you used the intervening year to strengthen your skills and move toward your goals — so a reapplication needs something new in it, not the same file resubmitted.

No income ceiling. The Academy states no family-income limit, so there is nothing to prove on income. This is a merit and fit selection, not a means-tested one.

No application fee on the official route, and the Academy runs its own portal rather than a third-party one. If a website asks you for money to forward a Yenching application, it is not the Academy.

Who to ask

• Admissions: yca-admissions@pku.edu.cn, +86 10 6276 6358 (international line)
• General: yca@pku.edu.cn, +86 10 6275 3625
• Delhi University applicants: Dr. Rajiv Ranjan, rranjan1@eas.du.ac.in
• Ashoka University applicants: Aniha Brar, aniha.brar@ashoka.edu.in

Checked on 3 September 2026 against the Yenching Academy's own admissions page, its Partner and Cooperating Universities list, and its FAQ. Peking University changes these requirements between cohorts, so open the official page linked above before you apply.