لام تشي من فيتنام: كيف فازت بمنحة معهد كونفوشيوس لجامعة فودان

The approach

Lâm Chi began preparing long before applications opened. She first asked students from her school who had already been admitted to Chinese universities what materials to prepare and what to ask, then worked through the official university websites and international student offices to compare scholarship terms and confirm each programme's requirements.

She applied to Nankai University, including for the Chinese Government Scholarship. Her CSC application was unsuccessful, but Nankai redirected her to its own university-level scholarship. Because she also wanted to live in Shanghai, she applied separately for the Confucius Institute Scholarship at Fudan University — and that is the one that came through.

What she says was hardest

Not the academic requirements: the procedures and required documents vary widely between scholarships, and keeping track of which document was required where was the most demanding part of the process.

She describes the common document set as passport, personal statement, study plan, recommendation letters, award certificates and police clearance records — and singles out police certificates as the document most prone to delay.

Her advice to applicants

Start at least six months in advance. Seek guidance from reliable seniors or alumni who have actually been through it. And apply to multiple universities and multiple scholarship programmes — her point is blunt: if one application fails and you have no backup, you may lose the whole cycle.

On the study plan, she stresses that a good one shows your strengths, what you have already accomplished and what you can bring to the university. She contacted her teachers one to two weeks before submitting and both her recommendation letters came from instructors who knew her academic work.

She is now enrolled in Fudan's Chinese Language for Foreigners (Business Chinese) programme with an HSK Level 6 certificate. Her Confucius Institute Scholarship covers four years, including tuition, accommodation, insurance and a monthly stipend, subject to annual academic review.