The Yenching Scholarsip (also Yanjing Scholars; Chinese: 燕京学者, pinyin: Yānjīng Xuézhě) is a highly selective interdisciplinary graduate program at the Yenching Academy of Peking University (PKU) in Beijing, China.
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The program, started in 2015, will provide Yenching Scholars, selected annually from around the world, with full scholarships for a one-year master's degree from Peking University, one of China's oldest and most prestigious universities. The program hosts in its own purpose-built residential college and is designed to cultivate leaders who will advocate for global progress and cultural understanding.
Inspired by the classical Chinese academies known as Shūyuàn and the Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University (Yenching Academy is called Yānjīng Xuétáng in Chinese, translated directly as Yanjing College), Yenching Academy at Peking University will compete with Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University in China and similar global scholarship programs around the world. It is the first such program to launch in Asia.
Mission
Yenching Scholars is an intensive global leadership program designed to provide outstanding young scholars with a broad interdisciplinary graduate education that reflects global perspectives. The program is designed "to cultivate leaders who will advocate for global progress and cultural understanding."
Overview
The Yenching Program will offer fully funded scholarships, including tuition, accommodation, transportation, and a living stipend to Yenching Scholars selected annually from around the world. Unlike most graduate master's degrees in China which run two years for professional programs and three years for academic fields, the program will last one year. Additionally, there will be the option to extend it for a second year as well as the opportunity for scholars to continue with doctoral studies at Peking. The program will initially offer concentrations in law and society, economics and management, public policy and international relations, literature and culture, history and archaeology, and philosophy and religion.
Eligibility requirements
Applicants for the scholarship must be have completed their bachelor's degree before starting the scholarship program.
Allocation
The Academy expects its "first cohort of Yenching Scholars to be from 47 universities, with the most numerous coming from Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, Cape Town, Cambridge, Stanford, Chicago and Leiden." Scholars "will represent 36 countries and regions, from Armenia and Australia to Vietnam and Zimbabwe."
Admission
Applicants can apply directly for either early admission or regular admission. Additionally, students who are nominated will submit their applications before the regular admission deadline.