Application Guide for Doctoral Degree Programs 2025

Zhejiang University (ZJU) is a comprehensive, research-oriented and innovative university with distinctive characteristics and great influence both domestically and internationally.  It offers 13 disciplines, including Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, History, Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Medicine, Management, Art and Interdisciplinary.

With program length of 3-4 academic years, doctoral degree programs are instructed in Chinese generally, while some English-taught programs are also available. Graduates fulfilling all the degree requirements will be awarded the doctoral degree.

I. Program Catalog

1、Catalog of Chinese-taught Doctoral Degree Programs 2025（Download）

2、Catalog of English-taught Doctoral Degree Programs 2025（Download）

The catalog of doctoral degree programs is subject to change. Please pay attention to the updated information on this website.

Applicants are encouraged to search in advance for information about relevant supervisors according to their own determined research direction on the Personal Homepage of Zhejiang University(Link) and contact supervisors prior to application. List about supervisors can be viewed by downloading the Supervisor Database. Applicants are expected to enclose in their application package with the Form for Provisional Acceptance of International Student by ZJU Supervisor.

II. Application Duration

Note: Applicants must complete the application in the Online Application System for International Students (Link) before the deadline, provide all materials in full as required, and pay the application fee. All dates and times listed are Beijing time

III. Application Fee and Tuition Fee

1. Application Fee: RMB 800 yuan, non-refundable.

2. Tuition Fee  

Notes:

-- An extra RMB 8,000 yuan/academic year shall be charged for programs whose language of instruction is English.

-- Tuition fee for some special programs could be found in the Remarks Column of the program catalog.

--The Tuition fee standard listed above is for reference ONLY. The tuition fee standard released on the admission notice shall prevail.

--For self-funded students, the tuition fee is not refundable.

3. Way of Payment: Application fee and tuition fee should be paid in the online application system.If one fails to make the online payment, then one MUST pay the application fee to the University’s Bank Account（Link）. Please mark application number and name when remitting, and upload the remittance letter to the System.  

IV. Eligibility

1. General Requirements

1.1 non-Chinese citizens with valid foreign passport.

1.2 Under the age of 40 (Age limit is flexible for healthy applicants with working experience and high academic ability). Applicants must be Master’s degree holders. (Those who provide pre-graduation certificate or student status certificate at application MUST provide Master’s degree diploma no later than registration.)

1.3 With proper moral conduct, in good health with no infectious disease or any physical or mental disease that may affect study.

2. Requirements on Citizenship

2.1 Applicants who have given up their original Chinese citizenship (including residents in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) and become foreign citizens shall provide the documents certifying the cancellation of Chinese citizenship and household registration. 

2.2 If the applicant has acquired foreign citizenship automatically at the time of birth in a foreign country, whose parents were both Chinese citizens, or one of the parents was a Chinese citizen, parent’s (with Chinese citizenship) permanent resident in foreign country should be obtained prior to the birth of the applicant.

Note: If the applicant is concluded to have Chinese citizenship by the Chinese public security department after application, admission or enrollment, the applicant will be disqualified from application, admission or enrollment or withdrawal from school will be required.

3.Language Proficiency Requirements: Applicants should meet with Language Proficiency Requirements of Doctoral Degree Programs at Zhejiang University for International Applicants.（Download）

V. Documents for Application

Applicants must log in to the Online Application System for International Students of Zhejiang University (Link), fill in clearly and upload completely the original or notarized scanned copies of the following materials as required.

1. A photocopy of passport front page. The expiry date of the passport should be after March 1, 2026.

2. Highest degree certificates. Those who provide pre-graduation certificate or student status certificate at application must provide Master’s degree diploma no later than registration.

3. Academic transcripts during Master’s and Bachelor’s degree study.

4. Language proficiency certificates. （Download）

5.Personal statement, in Chinese or English, should include study and work experience, reasons for application and study proposal. No less than 1500 words.

6. Two letters of recommendation from full professors or associate professors. (Professors’ signature, contact phone number and email address must be put on the letter.)

7. 2025 version of Form for Provisional Acceptance of International Student by ZJU Supervisor (If applicable, Click the filename to download)

Applicants shall provide the above form for supervisors to fill. Old versions will not be accepted. Applicants of some programs must provide this form, please refer to the catalog of doctoral degree programs.

8. Published academic papers or other academic achievements. (If applicable)

9. Applicants are encouraged to provide GRE、NTS-GAT test score.

10. Applicants who have given up their original Chinese citizenship and become foreign citizens shall provide:

10.1 documents certifying the cancellation of Chinese citizenship,

10.2 documents certifying the cancellation of Chinese household registration,

10.3 documents certifying the acquirement of foreign citizenship,

10.4 Self-Statement Form of Nationality Status and Nationality Confirmation and Guarantee Letter (Download).

11. If the applicant has acquired foreign citizenship automatically at the time of birth in a foreign country, whose parents were both Chinese citizens, or one of the parents was a Chinese citizen, shall provide:

11.1 documents certifying acquiring foreign citizenship at the time of birth,

11.2 documents certifying parent’s (with Chinese citizenship) permanent residence in foreign country before the birth of the applicant,

11.3 Self-Statement Form of Nationality Status and Nationality Confirmation and Guarantee Letter (Download).

12.Commitments for Zhejiang University PhD Application (Download) . The PDF version of the Commitments must be clearly and completely filled out and hand-signed. Applications without the Commitments will not be accepted.

Note:

1.Please ensure that the passport submitted is yourmost recent one. If necessary, renew your passport in advance before submitting the application. Once admitted, the passport information cannot be changed until new semester registration. If the passport is replaced due to special circumstances or force majeure, a written explanation should be submitted to the university and consent must be obtained.

2.After submitting the above materials in the online system, please pay the application fee in the system or upload the remittance voucher of the application fee.

3. The above application materials must be in Chinese or English, and notarized copies of translations must be provided for texts in other languages.

4. Please do NOT post the hard copies of the application materials or send them by e-mail, which will not be reviewed and processed.

5. Supplementary materials may be required when necessary.

6.If new policies are issued by superior departments, corresponding adjustments will be made.

VI. Selection Process, Admission and Notification

1. The university will conduct a preliminary review of the applicant's materials. Those who pass the preliminary review will take video interview arranged by academic schools. The university enrollment will be made on the basis of competitive selection according to the applicants’ research ability, academic performance, language proficiency, performance during video interview, etc.

2. Admission Notice can be downloaded from the Online Application System(Link)  from  the end of July, 2025. Download link of the electronic  Confirmation  Form for Study in China （for visa）will be sent to the  permanent email  address filled in the application system by the  applicant..

3. Applicants will be informed about their application result via Online Application System for International Students(Link).

VII. Registration

1. Doctoral degree programs of Zhejiang University usually start from the end of August or early September every year. For exact registration dates, please refer to the Admission Notice.

2.  Admitted applicants must register with the university strictly according to the time specified in the admission notice. The original graduation certificate, original degree certificate, original language proficiency certificate will be checked upon registration. Those who fail to provide the corresponding certificates will be disqualified from enrollment.

VIII. Scholarships（Continue to update）

Applicants for doctoral degree programs can apply for the following scholarships:

1. Chinese Government Scholarship-Bilateral Program(CSC Type A) (Link)

2. Chinese Government Scholarship-Chinese University Program (CSC Type B)(Link)

3. “China Studies Program”Ph.D. in China Fellowship (for applicants of Humanities and Social Science programs) (Link)

4. Zhejiang Government Scholarship(Link)

5.Zhejiang University International Campus Scholarship (ZJE Hai Scholarship) (for applicants of the ZJE) (Link)

6.Zhejiang University International School of Medicine Scholarship(for applicants of programs offered by International School of Medicine)(Link)

7.China-ASEAN Oceanic Scholarship for Education of International Graduate Student(for applicants of programs offered by Ocean College)(Link)

8.Zhejiang University College of Optical Science and Engineering Scholarship（for applicants of programs offered by College of Optical Science and Engineering Scholarship)(Link）

IX. Medical Insurance

Fee: RMB 800 Yuan/Academic year

According to the regulations of Ministry of Education, international students must purchase comprehensive medical insurance in the mainland of China as a necessary requirement for their registration for the new semester.

Students who fail to purchase the comprehensive medical insurance as required will NOT be registered by the university.

Information related to purchasing insurance will be notified in detail before registration.  

X. Accommodation

For accommodation details, please refer to the Current Student-Accommodation (Link) on the Website of the International College of Zhejiang University.

Please refer to further notices for specific arrangement for accommodation.

XI. Contact

Address:

Room 423, International College Building, West Zone, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

Post Code: 310058

Email:  admissionphd@zju.edu.cn  

Tel:   +86 571 87951718

Fax:   +86 571 87951755

Website: https://iczu.zju.edu.cn/iczuen/

Note: Should there be any change in the above content, the final interpretation from the International College of Zhejiang University shall prevail. Please pay attention to the update of the website of the International College (Link) in time. 

For more information, please visit the website of the International College of Zhejiang University (Link) or follow our WeChat official account “lxzdZJU”.