Admission to Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies • Гуандун шет тілдері және сыртқы сауда университеті

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Service Cost

Starting from 1800 $

Information updated: Oct 10, 2026

About university

Country

Китай

City

Гуанчжоу

Official website

https://www.gdufs.edu.cn/

Institution Type

University

Grants and Scholarships

Yes

Our Partners

Rank in country

—

Rank in world

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Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) was formed in 1995 by merging the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages (established in 1964) and the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Trade (founded in 1980). It is not a Project 211, Project 985 or Double First-Class university; it holds the status of a High-level University with Major Development Support in Guangdong Province. GDUFS ranks 6th among language universities in China (ShanghaiRanking 2026), 432nd in the QS Asia University Rankings 2026 and 151–200 in Linguistics in the QS subject rankings 2026. It has three campuses in Guangzhou and offers international students Chinese language courses, a Foundation programme, and bachelor's, master's and doctoral programmes in Chinese and English.

Programs, directions and terms for admission to Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies is a multidisciplinary educational institution. Choose the direction and study program that are perfect for you.

List of programs and specialties

Chinese-taught language courses (Spring semester)

Long-term courses

Additional Information

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) is a public university in Guangzhou, designated a High-level University with Major Development Support in Guangdong Province. It was formed in 1995 by merging the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages (established in 1964) and the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Trade (founded in 1980). International students are taught by the Institute for International Education (IIE) on the Baiyun Mountain Campus.

GDUFS in numbers

21,264 full-time undergraduates and 6,720 master's and doctoral students.
1,656 international students from 99 countries; nearly 40,000 international students educated to date.
77 undergraduate majors, including 33 foreign languages — the most of any university in South China.
4 academic divisions, 28 schools and 2,145 faculty and staff.
Partnerships with 536 universities and institutions in 71 countries and regions.
Figures from the official website, updated September 2026.

Programmes for international students

Chinese language courses: spring and fall semesters.
International Foundation Program with CSCA preparation, taught in Chinese or English.
Bachelor's: Chinese B.A. for international students, Chinese-taught majors shared with Chinese students, and English-taught International Business.
Master's: Chinese-taught academic and professional programmes (MIB, MTCSOL, Translation) and the English-taught MBA.
Doctoral programmes in foreign languages and literature, applied economics and law, taught in Chinese.

Tuition fees (2026–2027 intake)

Programme	Language	Duration	Tuition per year
Chinese language courses	Chinese	1 semester or 1 year	RMB 17,200 (8,600 per semester)
International Foundation Program	Chinese	1 semester or 1 year	RMB 23,000 (11,500 per semester)
International Foundation Program	English	1 year	RMB 18,000
Bachelor's (Chinese B.A. and Chinese-taught majors)	Chinese	4 years	RMB 20,000
Bachelor's (International Business)	English	4 years	RMB 33,800
Academic master's	Chinese	3 years	RMB 25,000
Master of Translation and Interpreting	Chinese	2–3 years	RMB 23,500
MTCSOL and MIB	Chinese	2–3 years	RMB 28,000
MBA	English	2 years full-time	RMB 54,000 (part-time, 3 years: 36,000)
Doctoral programmes	Chinese	4 years	RMB 30,000

Fees for degree programmes follow Appendix 1 of the autumn 2026 application notice. The one-time application fee is RMB 500 and insurance is RMB 800 per year.

Application periods (2027 intake)

Category	Application period
Chinese language courses, spring semester 2027	30 September – 10 December 2026
Bachelor's, spring 2027 (Chinese B.A. and Business Chinese)	30 September – 10 December 2026
Bachelor's, master's and doctoral programmes, autumn intake	1 March – 20 June (2026 intake)
Chinese language courses, fall semester	23 March – 30 June (2026 intake)
International Foundation Program, autumn intake	5 – 30 June (2026 intake)

Guides for the autumn 2027 intake have not been published yet; for those categories the 2026 periods are shown as a reference.

Language and age requirements

Programmes	Requirement
Chinese language courses	Age 18–35; no language requirement
Foundation	Chinese-taught: HSK 3 or equivalent; English-taught: IELTS or TOEFL score report; age generally 18–30
Chinese B.A.	Year 1: Chinese equivalent to HSK 3, no certificate needed; year 2: HSK 4 with 180+; year 3: HSK 5 with 180+; under 30
Chinese-taught bachelor's majors	HSK 5 with 180+; under 30
English-taught bachelor's	TOEFL 70 or IELTS 5.5; HSK 4 must be passed before graduation; under 30
Chinese-taught master's	HSK 5 with 180+ (MTCSOL and Master of Translation: 210+); under 35
English-taught MBA	GMAT, GRE, TOEFL or IELTS certificate and work experience; HSK 4 before graduation; under 35
Doctoral programmes	HSK 5 with 180+; under 40

CSCA for bachelor's applicants

From the 2026/2027 academic year all bachelor's applicants must submit CSCA results. Mathematics is compulsory for everyone.

Chinese-taught majors in languages, translation, trade, management, law, education, journalism and arts: Mathematics and Humanities Chinese.
Computer Science and Technology, Applied Psychology: Mathematics, STEM Chinese, and Physics or Chemistry.
International Business (English-taught): Mathematics only, taken in English.
Chinese B.A. applicants with a valid HSK 4 score of 180 or above (taken within two years) are exempt from Humanities Chinese.
Results are due by early January for the spring intake and by late June for the autumn intake. No minimum score is stated.

Selection process

Chinese-taught bachelor's: entrance exam (written test and interview, or interview only).
English-taught bachelor's: applicants without TOEFL or IELTS take a written test and interview; applicants from English-speaking countries take the interview only.
Master's and doctoral programmes: written exam and interview, two recommendation letters and a study plan of about 1,500 words.
Results: mid-to-late January for the spring intake, late June to early August for the autumn intake. The final decision comes by official university email.

Campus Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Baiyun Mountain Campus

The main campus for international students, at 2 Baiyun Avenue North, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, within the Baiyun Mountain scenic area. The Institute for International Education is here: Office 102, Mingde Teaching Building No. 7.

Schools of English, Business English, Western, Japanese, Southeast Asian, Asian and African languages, Chinese Language and Culture, and Interpreting and Translation Studies.
HSK test centre, including the first online HSK test centre in South China.
Hong Kong and Macao are each about two hours away by car.

University Town Campus

Located in Xiaoguwei, Panyu District, Guangzhou. It houses the schools of Economics and Trade, Business, Accounting, Finance, Law, English Education, Information Science and Technology, Journalism and Communication, Arts, and Mathematics and Statistics.

Dalang Campus

The third campus of the university in Guangzhou; the official website gives no further details about it.

Dormitory Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

On-campus apartments

Campus	Room type	Price
Baiyun Mountain	Double room	RMB 4,800 per person per semester
Baiyun Mountain	Four-bed room	RMB 2,400 per person per semester

Water, electricity and internet are included; water and electricity above the included amount are paid by the student.

Who gets a place

On-campus places are limited and allocated first come, first served, subject to confirmation by the university.
Students who do not get a place are advised to rent housing near the campus.
Holders of the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship get a free dormitory place, usually in a double room, or RMB 700 per month if they live off campus.

Other living costs

Compulsory insurance: RMB 400 per semester or RMB 800 per year.
One-time application fee: RMB 500, for first-time applicants only.

Scholarships Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Scholarships for international students

Scholarship	Who can apply	Coverage
Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC)	Degree applicants; GDUFS has been approved to receive CSC students since 2010	Set by the China Scholarship Council; details are not given on the IIE pages
International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship	Applicants to the master's in International Chinese Language Education: HSK 5 with 210+, HSKK Intermediate 60+, age 16–35	Tuition, free dormitory, RMB 3,000 per month living allowance, medical insurance
Guangdong Government Outstanding International Student Scholarship	New and current bachelor's, master's and doctoral students without another scholarship	One-time award: RMB 10,000 for bachelor's, 20,000 for master's, 30,000 for doctoral students
GDUFS Scholarship for degree students	New and continuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral students without a government scholarship	Full: tuition for one academic year waived; partial: 50% waived
GDUFS Scholarship for language students	New language students planning to study for more than a year, and those who have completed a year at IIE	Full: tuition for one semester waived; partial: 50% waived

Deadlines and rules (2026 intake)

Guangdong Government and GDUFS scholarships: documents are emailed before 5 July 2026; results are announced before the end of August.
New students first complete the online application and receive confirmation from the IIE Admission Office; a scholarship application without it is invalid.
Required: the scholarship application form and two recommendation letters; continuing students add last semester's transcript.
Continuing degree students need an average score of at least 90, at least 80 in each subject, a place in the top 30% and attendance of at least 90%.
International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship: applications from 1 March to 15 May 2026.
The International Foundation Program is self-funded and is not covered by any scholarship.

History Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Key milestones

Year	Event
1964	The Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages is established in November; first students enrol in July 1965
1980	The Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Trade is founded in December
1987	The Department of Chinese as a Foreign Language admits its first 21 international students
1995	The two institutes merge into Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
2001	The Chinese Language bachelor's programme for international students is launched
2007	The Foreign Students Department is renamed the Institute for International Education
2008	Guangdong College of Finance and Economics is integrated into GDUFS; the university becomes an HSK test centre
2010	GDUFS is approved to receive Chinese Government Scholarship students
2011	The first English-taught bachelor's programme, International Business, opens with 24 students from 20 countries
2013	GDUFS is named one of the first 38 Demonstration Bases for Study in China; enrolment passes 2,000 international students from 111 countries and regions

To date the university has educated nearly 40,000 international students from more than 100 countries and regions.

Rankings Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Ranking positions

Ranking	Edition	Position
ShanghaiRanking Best Chinese Universities, language universities	2026	6
QS Asia University Rankings	2026	432
QS World University Rankings	2026	not ranked
ARWU (ShanghaiRanking)	2023	901–1000
U.S. News Best Global Universities	2024–2025	996 in the world, 132 in China
QS World University Rankings by Subject: Linguistics	2026	151–200
ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects: Finance	2026	151–200
ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects: Economics; Education	2026	301–400

Disciplines

Foreign Languages and Literature is consistently in the national top three in ShanghaiRanking's Top Disciplines in China.
Twelve disciplines are included in ShanghaiRanking's Best Chinese Subjects; Applied Economics and Law are recognised as first-class disciplines in China.
ESI: Social Sciences, General is in the global top 0.5%; Engineering, Environment/Ecology and Economics & Business are in the global top 1%.
In ShanghaiRanking's humanities and social sciences strength ranking GDUFS is in category A and consistently in the national top 50.
37 national first-class undergraduate programmes.

International Programs and Cooperation Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Global partnerships

Cooperative partnerships with 536 universities and institutions in 71 countries and regions.
Seven overseas Confucius Institutes and Classrooms on five continents — the most of any university in Guangdong — including those at Sapporo University (Japan), Ural Federal University (Russia), the Catholic University of Santa Maria (Peru) and the University of Cape Verde, as well as in Egypt, Portugal and Australia.
Member of the UN MoU network for training high-end translators and interpreters.
The only foreign-language university selected for the China–Japan–Korea CAMPUS Asia programme; also part of the China–Arab Universities 10+10 Cooperation Plan and the China–Africa 100 Universities Cooperation Plan.
Joint programmes with the University of Leeds, the University of Reading and Macao Polytechnic University; eight international programmes in total.
The Mickiewicz Innovation Institute, a Chinese-foreign cooperatively run institution approved by the Ministry of Education.

International education

1,656 international students from 99 countries (September 2026).
Approved to receive students on the Chinese Government Scholarship and the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship.
One of the first 38 Demonstration Bases for Study in China named by the Ministry of Education.
The Institute for International Education has 26 internship practice bases that international students visit regularly.
The MBA programme offers dual-degree partnerships with nearly 60 foreign universities.

About Гуанчжоу

Safety rating

9/10

Summer temperature

+32–35°C

Population

~15 148 000

Winter temperature

+10–18°C

Гуанчжоу — экономический гигант юга Китая, центр торговли, производства и международного бизнеса (Canton Fair, порты). Город известен как ворота в Китай для бизнеса и экспорта, с топовыми вузами (Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology). Для студентов — динамичная среда, отличный транспорт (метро, высокоскоростные поезда), вкусная кантонская кухня и близость к Гонконгу/Макао. Высокий уровень безопасности, много международных кампусов и сообществ. Лето душное с тайфунами, но зима комфортная — идеально для тех, кто любит южный климат и карьерные возможности в торговле/технологиях.

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