Beyond equal access: China Scholarship Council and the position of non-ODA countries in higher education provision towards SDG 4

Tingting Yuan
Bath Spa University

This paper is looking at the SDG Goal 4 and one of the means of implementation – scholarship, by investigating the role of China Scholarship Council (CSC) and its contribution to the country’s international position and development strategy.

In the area of vocational and higher education, the SDG Goal 4 targets on the equality (- equal access especially gender equality) rather than the equity and quality (- the distribution of resource and the outcomes). ‘Scholarship’ as one of the three means of implementation, would be evaluated through the ‘volume of official development assistance flows for scholarships by sector and type of study’. As only count ODA countries such as Australia, France and Japan which are seen as the largest contributors, there is a blank space for us to think about the contribution of the non-ODA countries and the possibilities of a more mutual and effective model of the popularisation of higher education.

As both of an importer and exporter, China has made huge effort on its scholarship system in the last decade. The China Scholarship Council (CSC) is now playing the key role dealing with all of the scholarship application for domestic and oversea applicants as well as related international affairs and has such a unique role among Chinese government, Chinese local authorities, Chinese universities, foreign embassies and foreign universities. It provides more than six types of Chinese scholarships to foreign applicants and also provide different levels of scholarships for Chinese students and researchers to study abroad. By looking at the system, function and the service of CSC, it is hoped to find some implications to the achievement of SDG 4 and the contribution of the non-ODA countries in the knowledge transformation, particular the knowledge of non-Westernised development, within the post-2015 era.

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