About
About South China Agricultural University
South China Agricultural University (华南农业大学, SCAU) traces its history to the Guangdong Agricultural Experimental Station and Training Centre founded in 1909. The university in its present form was assembled in 1952, when the agricultural faculties of National Sun Yat-sen University, the private Lingnan University and Guangxi University were merged into South China Agricultural College — a college whose name, its Overview page notes, was written out by Mao Zedong. It took the name South China Agricultural University in 1984, and in 2000 its administration passed from the Ministry of Agriculture to Guangdong Province. Its English site describes it as a national key university co-sponsored by Guangdong Province and the Ministry of Agriculture, and as a high-level university on China’s Double First-Class list.
The university sits in Guangzhou, the “City of Flowers” and capital of Guangdong. Land holdings run to about 546.6 hectares with more than 1.4 million square metres of built space; the Chinese home page splits that between the Tianhe Wushan campus (4,407 mu) and the Zengcheng teaching and research base (3,804 mu), 8,211 mu in total. International students are based on the Wushan campus in Tianhe District, which has its own metro stop — Exit A, Wushan Station on Guangzhou Metro Line 3.
SCAU is large and agriculture-first without being agriculture-only: 25 colleges covering agriculture, engineering, the humanities, sciences, economics, management, law and the arts, and more than 50,000 full-time students — over 37,000 undergraduates and roughly 13,000 graduate students. Two disciplines, Plant and Animal Science and Agricultural Sciences, sit in the Essential Science Indicators global top 1‰, and 13 sit in the global top 1%, from chemistry, materials science and engineering through microbiology, molecular biology and immunology to computer science and social sciences. The Fact & Figures page counts 14 in the top 1%.
Several headline numbers differ between official SCAU pages, and it is worth knowing that before you quote one. Programs: the English Introduction page gives 95 undergraduate programs, 13 first-level disciplines authorised for doctoral degrees and 30 for master’s; Fact & Figures gives 95 undergraduate, 120 master’s and 62 doctoral; the Overview page gives 98, 139 and 62. Staff: 3,343 employees including 2,328 full-time teachers (Introduction), 3,380 including 2,360 (Overview), or 3,390 including 2,626 (the College of International Education). All agree on three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. International enrolment is the widest gap: Fact & Figures says “110+”, the College of International Education describes about 200 students from 65 countries, and SCAU’s QS profile reports 120.
SCAU’s English Introduction page cites ShanghaiRanking 2025; its older Overview page gives 401–500 for the 2024 edition.
The Introduction page cites QS 2025; SCAU’s QS profile shows #28 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026. The Overview page still shows No. 34 for QS 2024.
ShanghaiRanking 2024 per the Introduction page; the Overview page gives No. 6 for Veterinary Science and No. 6 for Agricultural Sciences in the same edition. The two pages disagree — cite the one you are quoting.
From SCAU’s QS profile, which also places it =235 in the Eastern Asia table. SCAU does not appear in the QS World University Rankings overall table.
Plant and Animal Science, and Agricultural Sciences.
Agriculture is the point, not a label
Rice genetics, veterinary medicine, agricultural machinery and aviation plant protection, green pesticides and food science are where SCAU’s national laboratories and its ESI top-1‰ disciplines sit. If your field is agronomy, animal science, plant protection or food safety this is a serious address; business and the humanities are taught but are not what the university is known for.
A Guangzhou address
The Wushan campus is inside Guangzhou, in Tianhe District, with its own station on Metro Line 3 — not a distant satellite campus. Guangdong is China’s largest provincial economy, and the Greater Bay Area puts Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau within easy reach.
Double First-Class since 2022
SCAU entered the national Double First-Class list in the second round in 2022. Fact & Figures counts one national first-class discipline alongside 6 national key disciplines and 5 key disciplines of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; China Daily’s Study in China portal reports that the designation belongs to crop science.
Thin English documentation — ask before you assume
SCAU publishes far less in English than its size suggests: no list of English-taught majors, no published application fee, and a Chinese Language Program page still carrying its 2019 edition. This guide flags every place where you will need to write to the College of International Education.
Admission
Admission, programs & tuition
SCAU admits international students to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and to a non-degree Chinese language program. Two routes run in parallel and they do not share a deadline. Self-funded applicants at every level apply through the university’s own system at scau.studyinchina.top, in a window the College of International Education’s application page gives as 1 March – 30 June. Chinese Government Scholarship applicants apply through the national CSC system (studyinchina.csc.edu.cn) in a window the same page gives as 1 January – 31 March; SCAU’s English prospectus for the Chinese University Program — the Type B channel it runs for graduate students — opened on 8 January in the edition published for the 2024 intake, the most recent posted in English. Neither page is dated to a named admission year, so treat these as the university’s standing pattern for the September intake and confirm your year’s exact dates with the office. Postgraduate applicants should not leave the supervisor to chance: SCAU’s guidance tells applicants to find a supervisor in the Graduate School’s admissions catalogue or on a college website, email them with their materials and ask for a pre-acceptance letter — and for the Chinese Government Scholarship a pre-admission or invitation letter from SCAU is a required document, not an optional extra.
Degree programs
Select a degree level to see tuition, duration and entry requirements.
Bachelor’s degreeUndergraduate
Four-year degrees across SCAU’s 25 colleges — 95 undergraduate programs on the Fact & Figures and Introduction pages (98 on the Overview page), heaviest in agriculture, veterinary medicine, animal science, horticulture, plant protection, food science and engineering. Undergraduate teaching is in Chinese; SCAU publishes no list of English-taught bachelor’s majors, so ask the College of International Education what is available before applying. The three BSc programs of the Guangzhou Dublin International College are a 4+0 Sino-foreign program recruiting inside China’s national system, not an international-student entry route.
- Self-funded international undergraduate
- RMB 10,000 / year
Application requirements
- Non-Chinese citizen holding a valid passport and in good physical and mental health.
- Senior high-school graduation with a notarised diploma and academic transcripts. The application page lists diploma, transcripts, language certificate, passport, eight passport-sized photographs and a personal statement as the materials to upload.
- A Chinese language certificate. SCAU publishes no minimum HSK level for self-funded undergraduate entry — the only threshold it publishes anywhere is HSK Level 4 for Chinese-taught master’s and doctoral programs under the Chinese Government Scholarship — so ask the office what your major requires.
- Application submitted online at scau.studyinchina.top inside the 1 March – 30 June self-funded window.
- No age limit is published for undergraduate applicants; the limits SCAU does publish (under 35, under 40) apply to scholarship applicants at graduate level. Applicants under 18 must provide legal guardianship documents for a guardian in China.
Master’s degreeGraduate
Two- to three-year master’s degrees. Fact & Figures counts 120 master’s programs (the Overview page says 139) across 30 first-level disciplines — the English site’s list runs from applied economics and mathematics through mechanical engineering to the agricultural and veterinary disciplines, alongside professional degrees such as the Juris Master, MBA and Master of Engineering Management. The scholarship prospectus states that instruction is in Chinese or English, so English-taught graduate study exists; the majors are not listed in English and the prospectus refers applicants to the college’s enrolment-major list. Secure a supervisor before you apply.
- Self-funded international master’s
- RMB 21,000 / year
Application requirements
- Non-Chinese citizen in good physical and mental health, holding a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, and under 35 at the time of application — the limit SCAU states for master’s applicants to the Chinese Government Scholarship.
- Chinese-taught programs under that scholarship require HSK Level 4. For English-taught programs SCAU asks for a relevant language certificate such as IELTS or TOEFL, without publishing a minimum score.
- A pre-admission document from SCAU: an admission letter, pre-admission letter or supervisor’s invitation letter, on university letterhead and sealed by the international students admission office.
- A study plan of at least 1,000 words or characters in Chinese or English, and two letters of recommendation from professors or associate professors.
- Notarised highest diploma and full transcripts from the undergraduate program onwards, sealed by the awarding institution; translations into Chinese or English must be notarised. Foreigner Physical Examination Form completed in English (valid six months) and a non-criminal record certificate issued within the previous six months.
Doctoral degreeGraduate
Three- to four-year doctorates. SCAU holds doctoral authorisation in 13 first-level disciplines and Fact & Figures counts 62 doctoral programs; the strongest concentrations are crop science, veterinary medicine, animal science, plant protection, agricultural engineering, horticulture and forestry — the fields that carry the university’s national laboratories. Find a supervisor first, through the Graduate School’s admissions catalogue where supervisor profiles are linked, and request a pre-acceptance letter by email.
- Self-funded international doctoral
- RMB 30,000 / year
Application requirements
- Non-Chinese citizen in good physical and mental health, holding a master’s degree or its equivalent, and under 40 at the time of application — the limit SCAU states for doctoral applicants to the Chinese Government Scholarship.
- HSK Level 4 for Chinese-taught programs under that scholarship; a relevant certificate such as IELTS or TOEFL for programs taught in English.
- A pre-admission letter or supervisor’s invitation letter from SCAU, sealed by the international students admission office and carrying the signature and contact details of its head.
- A study plan of at least 1,000 words or characters, signed by the applicant’s Chinese supervisor, plus two letters of recommendation from professors or associate professors.
- Notarised master’s diploma and transcripts from the undergraduate program onwards, Foreigner Physical Examination Form (valid six months) and a non-criminal record certificate issued within the previous six months.
Non-degree programs
Chinese Language Program
Four entry levels — Beginners’, Elementary (Level 2), Intermediate and Advanced Chinese — with intensive reading as the core course at every level, classes 8:30–12:00, and extracurricular options such as calligraphy. Applicants complete a Language Application Form and arrange a dormitory room separately: the page asks students to pay for at least six months before moving in and warns that rooms are subject to availability with no reservation service. The page is still headed as the 2019 program, so confirm fees and structure with the College of International Education.
Fee · RMB 8,500 / semester; RMB 17,000 / year (2019 edition of the program page, the most recent published in English)
Exchange and visiting study through partner agreements
SCAU’s Global Partners page lists student exchange programs, Erasmus+ mobility and 2+2, 3+2 and 4+2 dual-degree arrangements with partners in Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America and Africa. Incoming exchange is arranged institution to institution: if your university is on SCAU’s partner list, apply through its international office rather than through the self-funded portal.
Fee · Set by the exchange agreement — usually tuition-waived on a balanced exchange; ask your home university’s international office
Documents to prepare
- Completed online application in the system for your route — scau.studyinchina.top for self-funded applicants, studyinchina.csc.edu.cn for Chinese Government Scholarship applicants.
- Clear scan of the passport information page, valid well beyond the September start of the academic year.
- Notarised highest diploma, or a certificate of expected graduation or student status if you are still enrolled.
- Academic transcripts from the undergraduate program onwards, sealed by the awarding institution; documents not in Chinese or English need notarised translations.
- Language certificate: an HSK report for Chinese-taught programs (HSK Level 4 for the Chinese Government Scholarship at graduate level), or IELTS or TOEFL for programs taught in English.
- Eight passport-sized photographs and a personal statement, per the College of International Education’s application page.
- Study plan of at least 1,000 words or characters for graduate applicants — signed by the Chinese supervisor for doctoral applicants — and two letters of recommendation from professors or associate professors.
- Pre-admission document from SCAU for scholarship applicants: an admission, pre-admission or supervisor’s invitation letter, on university letterhead and sealed by the international students admission office.
- Photocopy of the Foreigner Physical Examination Form completed in English — valid for six months, so time the examination to the deadline — and a non-criminal record certificate issued within the previous six months.
- Legal guardianship documents for a guardian in China if you are under 18; examples of your work if you are applying for an art or design major.
Application timeline
These are the dates South China Agricultural University published for the 2026 intake. That cycle has closed. Use them as a guide to when each step falls in the year, and check the official pages for the 2027 dates before you plan around them.
- 1
Chinese Government Scholarship window opens
1 – 31 January 2026The application page puts the scholarship window at 1 January – 31 March; SCAU’s English prospectus for the Chinese University Program opened on 8 January in the edition published for the 2024 intake. Neither names the current year, so confirm with the office.
- 2
Contact a supervisor and obtain a pre-admission letter
January – March 2026Scholarship applicants must upload a pre-admission or invitation letter from SCAU, so the supervisor conversation has to happen inside the scholarship window.
- 3
Self-funded application window opens
1 March 2026Self-funded undergraduate and graduate applications are submitted at scau.studyinchina.top.
- 4
Chinese Government Scholarship deadline
31 March 2026Submit in the CGSIS system and then file with your country’s dispatching authority, which sets its own earlier internal deadline. Only one Type B application may be submitted per academic year.
- 5
Self-funded application deadline
30 June 2026 - 6
Admission decisions, admission notice and JW202 visa form
July – August 2026SCAU does not publish the date it releases results or mails admission documents, so ask the College of International Education for its timetable when you submit.
- 7
Registration and start of the autumn semester
September 2026SCAU’s scholarship prospectus requires enrolment no earlier than September for the autumn intake. Dormitory rooms are not held in advance, so arrange housing with the college before you travel.
The only place SCAU publishes international tuition as figures is its information-disclosure fee-standard page, which sets self-funded international tuition at RMB 10,000 / year for undergraduate study, RMB 21,000 / year for a master’s and RMB 30,000 / year for a doctorate, under Guangdong price-bureau and education-department documents. That disclosure is old — it cites documents issued between 1998 and 2007 — and the College of International Education keeps a separate study-fees page in Chinese, so confirm the current rate in writing before you budget or transfer money. SCAU publishes no application fee, medical-insurance premium or residence-permit cost in English; the Chinese Government Scholarship — Chinese University Program covers tuition and application fees, accommodation, a stipend and comprehensive medical insurance, with international travel at the student’s own expense. Dormitory rent is billed monthly on top of tuition: RMB 1,500 with air conditioning, RMB 1,200 without. The International Students page also carries a university account number (3602002609000310520-000000001) — verify bank details with the college before transferring, never from a third-party page.
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Scholarships
Funding comes from three directions: the Chinese Government Scholarship, which SCAU runs in both its university-nominated and its bilateral form; the Guangdong provincial government’s scholarship for international students; and the general China Scholarship Council channels. The one SCAU documents fully in English is the Chinese University Program — the Type B channel in which the university itself nominates talented applicants for master’s and doctoral study. It is the route to aim at for a fully funded place, and it closes three months before the self-funded window does. Two practical points decide most applications. First, the pre-admission letter: a Type B application without an admission, pre-admission or supervisor invitation letter from SCAU is incomplete, so the supervisor has to say yes inside the January–March window. Second, the dispatching authority: after submitting in CGSIS you must also file with the authority in your own country, which sets its own earlier deadline and which SCAU cannot waive. SCAU also warns applicants not to entrust any individual or intermediary agency with a Chinese Government Scholarship application.
Chinese Government Scholarship — Chinese University Program (Type B)
A full award: tuition and application fees, free accommodation, a stipend and comprehensive medical insurance. International travel is at the student’s own expense. It runs 2–3 years for a master’s degree and 3–4 years for a doctorate.
Eligibility: Non-Chinese citizens in good physical and mental health. Master’s applicants hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and are under 35; doctoral applicants hold a master’s degree or equivalent and are under 40. Chinese-taught programs require HSK Level 4. Applicants must meet SCAU’s own admission requirements and hold a pre-admission document from the university. Applications are made in CGSIS under Program Category Type B using SCAU’s agency number; only one Type B application is allowed per academic year, and once submitted it cannot be amended — only withdrawn, re-edited and resubmitted.
Chinese Government Scholarship — bilateral (embassy) route
Set by the China Scholarship Council for the channel and the year; SCAU does not restate the terms on its own pages, and points applicants to the CSC portals (studyinchina.csc.edu.cn, csc.edu.cn/laihua and campuschina.org).
Eligibility: Applicants nominated by the scholarship dispatch department of their own country. SCAU’s application page sets out the sequence: obtain the recommendation from your country’s dispatching department, secure a pre-admission letter from SCAU, register and submit through the national system, then file the complete materials with your dispatching office. The window on that page runs 1 January – 31 March.
Guangdong Government Outstanding International Student Scholarship
SCAU names this provincial award on its English pages as one of the scholarships open to its international students, but publishes neither the amount, the number of places nor the coverage terms in English. Ask the College of International Education for the current year’s figures before counting on it.
Eligibility: International students enrolled at, or admitted to, a Guangdong higher-education institution, nominated by their university on academic performance and conduct. SCAU posts the year’s guidance in Chinese on the College of International Education site when the province opens the round, so watch that page or ask the office to alert you. SCAU has repeatedly been named an “Advance Institution of International Student Education in Guangdong”, the provincial designation for universities judged to run international student education well — a reason to ask about provincial funding rather than a scheme in itself.
Research
Research at the university
SCAU’s research is built around the agriculture of subtropical South China and is concentrated rather than scattered: rice and crop genetics, veterinary medicine and animal disease control, livestock and poultry breeding, green pesticides, agricultural equipment and aviation-based plant protection, and food quality and safety. Its research pages count 14 national research platforms and 12 key laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture; on provincial platforms the pages disagree — the English Introduction page gives 123 provincial and ministerial platforms, the College of International Education’s introduction 116 plus three new-type provincial think tanks. The College also records 12 National Science and Technology Awards in the past five years, across the Progress Award, the Award for Technological Invention and the Natural Science Award. The practical read for an applicant: a supervisor in crop science, veterinary medicine, animal science, plant protection or agricultural engineering is likely to sit on or near a national platform, with the equipment and funding that implies.
Crop science and rice genetics
The discipline that carries SCAU’s Double First-Class designation and its longest tradition — the university’s first president, Ding Ying, founded modern Chinese rice-farming science. Work runs from wild-rice germplasm through hybrid sterility genetics to variety breeding, anchored by the State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources.
Veterinary medicine and animal disease control
Home to the National Key Laboratory of Animal Disease Control and Prevention, a Key Laboratory of Zoonoses and a laboratory of animal vaccine development. SCAU’s veterinary science ranks among the strongest in China on ShanghaiRanking’s subject tables.
Livestock and poultry breeding
The National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry and the National Key Laboratory of Swine and Poultry Breeding Industry give SCAU a national role in pig and poultry genetics, with industrial partners across Guangdong.
Agricultural equipment and aviation plant protection
The National Key Laboratory of Agricultural Equipment Technology, the National Scientific and Technological Innovation Base for Mechanized Production in Rice Cultivation, and the National Center for International Collaboration Research on Precision Agricultural Aviation Pesticides Spraying Technology — the last built on the work of CAE academician Luo Xiwen, who took his master’s degree here.
Green pesticides, plant protection and space breeding
The National Key Laboratory of Green Pesticides sits alongside provincial platforms in natural pesticides and tropical smart agriculture technology, and the National Engineering Research Center of Plant Space Breeding — one of very few such centres in China — alongside platforms in horticultural preservation and bio-based materials.
- In August 2025 professors Chu Chengcai and Hu Bin of the College of Agriculture published in Cell, reporting that NRT1.1B acts as an abscisic acid receptor — work on how plants read environmental signals, reported by China Daily’s Study in China portal.
- The same report records Simiao rice varieties bred at SCAU planted on 6.67 million hectares and generating more than 20 billion yuan in farmer income, Huaxia soybean varieties on more than 66,700 hectares, and 23 new crop varieties applied across 1 million hectares.
- Over five years the crop science discipline initiated more than 390 new research projects worth over 390 million yuan in contracts, and its faculty includes three globally recognised highly cited researchers.
- Two disciplines — Plant and Animal Science and Agricultural Sciences — rank in the ESI global top 1‰; 13 rank in the global top 1%.
Global engagement
Global engagement
SCAU’s English Introduction page states that the university has signed agreements or memoranda of understanding with more than 160 renowned universities and research institutions in 48 countries and regions, and its research pages record 12 international joint laboratories and research centres established since 2012, including partners in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The Global Partners table shows what those agreements are: mostly MOUs, with a substantial layer of student exchange programs, Erasmus+ mobility and 2+2, 3+2 and 4+2 dual-degree routes across Asia (the largest group, including Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan), Europe, North America, Oceania, South America and Africa. The deepest single relationship is with University College Dublin. The university also states that faculty and students are funded each year by the China Scholarship Council and other sources to carry out research abroad; institutions seeking collaboration are directed to the International Office at fao@scau.edu.cn.
Guangzhou Dublin International College (with University College Dublin)
Approved by China’s Ministry of Education in April 2020 and operating on the SCAU campus, GDIC teaches three four-year BSc programs — Biological Science, Food Quality and Safety, and Horticulture — on a 4+0 model with an annual intake of 180. Students are registered at both universities and graduates receive degrees from both UCD and SCAU, with the option of short or long study periods in Dublin. It recruits inside China’s national system rather than through international-student admission, so ask the college directly if you want to be considered.
Dual-degree and credit-transfer partners
SCAU’s own brochure names dual-degree arrangements with the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Irvine, Kansas State University, the University of Arkansas, University College Dublin and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, and credit-transfer agreements with institutions including the University of Dundee, Louisiana State University and the National University of Singapore.
Short programs and Erasmus+
The brochure lists summer and winter programs with Oxford, Cambridge, the University of British Columbia and universities in Hong Kong, while the Global Partners table records Erasmus+ cooperation alongside bilateral agreements with partners in nine or more European countries — the route by which most European exchange students reach SCAU.
Agricultural cooperation across the Global South
SCAU’s English news pages report academic partnerships and agricultural cooperation with institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean — Colombia and Uruguay among them — as well as Australia, and its partner table lists agreements in Ghana, South Africa and Egypt. Agricultural development cooperation, rather than pure academic exchange, is a large part of what the university does abroad.
Career
Career & alumni
SCAU publishes no English-language careers page for international students and no graduate employment rate for them, so this section describes what the university runs rather than outcomes it claims. Careers and admissions sit with the Office for Student Enrolment and Employment, and the campus calendar carries the visible parts of its work: a large autumn recruitment fair in October and a career awareness exposition in November. For international graduates the realistic paths are the ones the university’s research strengths open — agricultural research institutes, veterinary and animal-health companies, food and agribusiness firms across the Pearl River Delta, agricultural machinery and precision-agriculture companies, and doctoral study in China or with a partner institution abroad. If working in China after graduation matters to you, ask the College of International Education at application stage about work-permit eligibility for fresh graduates and about which colleges place international students; the answer varies by field and is not published.
Career support
- Office for Student Enrolment and Employment — the central department responsible for admissions and graduate employment.
- Annual autumn campus recruitment fair on the Wushan campus in October, and a career awareness exposition in November.
- Supervisor-led placement into research groups: for graduate students the supervisor relationship, established before admission, is the main career channel.
- Partner-university pathways for further study, including the dual-degree and credit-transfer agreements on the Global Partners page.
- China Scholarship Council funding for students carrying out research abroad, awarded each year.
Notable alumni
Ding Ying (1888–1964)
Founder of modern Chinese rice-farming science and the first president of South China Agricultural College in 1952. He founded China’s first rice research institute with his own savings in 1927, was elected a founding academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955 and became the first president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1957.
Lu Yonggen (1930–2019)
One of the first students of the new South China Agricultural College, graduating in 1953; he spent his whole career there and was its president from 1983 to 1995. Elected a Chinese Academy of Sciences academician in 1993 for work on rice hybrid compatibility genetics, he expanded Ding Ying’s wild-rice collection from about 7,000 to more than 10,000 accessions, and in 2017 he and his wife gave the university 8.8 million yuan — its largest single donation.
Luo Xiwen
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (2009) and the leading figure in Chinese precision agricultural aviation. He took his master’s in agricultural mechanization at SCAU in 1982 and stayed — professor from 1992, vice-president 1996–2006 — and chairs the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery.
Campus life
Campus life
International students live and study on the Wushan campus in Tianhe District — a green, subtropical campus inside Guangzhou with its own metro station (Exit A, Wushan Station, Line 3). Guangzhou is hot and humid from May to September and mild in winter, which is why the dormitory rate sheet distinguishes rooms with and without air conditioning: pay for the air conditioning. The campus runs five canteens and two sit-down restaurants, gym and swimming facilities, a free-access stadium and a university clinic. The College of International Education publishes its students’ own accounts: students from Pakistan, Mali, Nepal, Laos, Brazil and Egypt, most on master’s and doctoral programs in entomology, soil science, forest protection, preventive veterinary medicine and economics, describe the language barrier as the first obstacle and their supervisors and peer group as what carried them through. The international community is small — between 110 and about 200 students depending on which official page you read — so expect to be integrated into Chinese-medium university life rather than a large separate international bubble.
Accommodation
International student dormitory — single room
RMB 1,500 / month with air conditioning; RMB 1,200 / month without
Hot and cold water, private bathroom, cupboard, desk, chair and an internet port, per the university’s International Students page. In a Guangzhou summer the air conditioning is not a nominal difference.
International student dormitory — double room
RMB 1,500 / month with air conditioning; RMB 1,200 / month without
The published table gives a double the same monthly figure as a single, which suggests the double rate may be charged per room rather than per person. SCAU does not say which, so confirm it in writing before you accept a room.
Chinese Language Program accommodation
RMB 700 / month (double), RMB 750 / month (double with private bathroom), RMB 1,200 / month (single)
From the Chinese Language Program page, still the 2019 edition. It asks students to pay for at least six months before moving in and states that rooms are subject to availability with no reservation service — do not arrive expecting a room to be held. The campus services page describes the standard student apartment as having air conditioning, a refrigerator, internet access, a bathroom with a shower and the necessary furniture.
Dining
Five canteens serve the campus — breakfast 7:30–9:00, lunch 11:30–13:00, supper 17:00–19:00 — alongside two sit-down restaurants, the Bamboo Park and the Xiang Yuan, which keep longer hours. Guangzhou is the home of Cantonese cooking, so the options around Wushan and along Metro Line 3 matter as much as the canteens. SCAU does not publish a halal canteen or a vegetarian counter on its English pages; given the size of its South Asian and African graduate community, ask the College of International Education what is available before you arrive.
Facilities
Library
More than 4.692 million items across four library buildings and 36,700 square metres — about 2.02 million physical volumes, 2.67 million digital resources and 53 Chinese and foreign databases — with more than 2,100 reading seats, 260 computer seats and 2,873 wifi ports. Open 8:00–22:00 Monday to Saturday and 8:00–12:00 on Sunday, 85 hours a week outside holidays, with network services around the clock.
Sport and health
Gym facilities open 15:00–21:30 with badminton, table tennis and fitness rooms, swimming pools in defined time slots and free access to the stadium. A university clinic operates on weekdays with published emergency numbers, and the campus runs a 24-hour security hotline on 020-85280110.
Campus, city and the Zengcheng base
The Wushan campus is one of Guangzhou’s greenest and is known city-wide for its spring blossom; the events calendar runs from a pet carnival in March through the autumn wellness walk to the November anniversary gala, and Metro Line 3 puts the rest of Guangzhou within reach without a car. SCAU’s second site, 3,804 mu of farmland and facilities in Zengcheng, carries much of the field teaching and agricultural trial work — expect to travel there if your program is in agronomy, horticulture or animal science.
Campus
South China Agricultural University in photos
Photos of South China Agricultural University
Photos will appear here once they are uploaded from the Qiao admin panel. In the meantime, Qiao is on it.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost an international student to study at SCAU?+
The only figures SCAU publishes are on its information-disclosure fee-standard page: RMB 10,000 / year for a self-funded international bachelor’s degree, RMB 21,000 / year for a master’s and RMB 30,000 / year for a doctorate. Dormitory rent is on top — RMB 1,200 per month without air conditioning, RMB 1,500 with it. That disclosure cites Guangdong regulatory documents from 1998 to 2007 and the College of International Education keeps a separate study-fees page in Chinese, so confirm the current rate in writing before you budget. SCAU publishes no application fee for international students in English — ask the college what it is.
Do I need HSK, and can I study in English?+
The only Chinese-proficiency threshold SCAU publishes is HSK Level 4, for Chinese-taught master’s and doctoral programs under the Chinese Government Scholarship. Its scholarship prospectus says instruction is in Chinese or English, so English-taught graduate programs exist, and for those the university asks for a certificate such as IELTS or TOEFL without naming a minimum score. There is no published list of English-taught majors and no published English-taught undergraduate route — undergraduate teaching is in Chinese. If English-medium study is essential, write to the College of International Education with your intended field before you apply.
When do applications open and close?+
There are two windows: Chinese Government Scholarship applications run 1 January – 31 March, and self-funded applications 1 March – 30 June, on the College of International Education’s application page. SCAU’s English scholarship prospectus opened on 8 January in the edition published for the 2024 intake. Neither page is dated to a named admission year, so treat these as the university’s standing pattern for the September intake and confirm your year’s dates with the office. Scholarship applicants also face an earlier internal deadline set by their own country’s dispatching authority.
What scholarships can I actually get?+
The main one is the Chinese Government Scholarship — Chinese University Program (Type B), which SCAU runs for master’s and doctoral students: tuition and application fees, accommodation, a stipend and comprehensive medical insurance, for 2–3 years at master’s level and 3–4 at doctoral, with international travel at your own expense. SCAU also takes bilateral Chinese Government Scholarship students nominated by their home government, and names the Guangdong Government Outstanding International Student Scholarship among the awards open to its students, although it does not publish that award’s amount or quota in English. There is no published SCAU-funded scholarship for self-funded undergraduates.
Is there an age limit?+
For the Chinese Government Scholarship, yes: master’s applicants must be under 35 and doctoral applicants under 40 at the time of application. SCAU publishes no age limit for self-funded applicants or for undergraduate entry. Applicants under 18 must provide legal guardianship documents for a guardian in China.
Where will I live, and can I book a room in advance?+
In the international student dormitory on the Wushan campus. Rooms have hot and cold water, a private bathroom, a cupboard, desk, chair and an internet port, at RMB 1,500 per month with air conditioning and RMB 1,200 without. There is a catch: the Chinese Language Program page states that rooms are subject to availability and that there is no reservation service, and asks students to pay for at least six months before moving in. Confirm your room with the college before you fly, and ask whether the double-room rate is per person or per room — the published table gives doubles and singles the same price and the university does not explain why.
What is SCAU actually good at?+
Agriculture and the life sciences around it. Plant and Animal Science and Agricultural Sciences are in the ESI global top 1‰; the university ranks 28th in the world for Agriculture and Forestry on the QS subject table and among the top dozen worldwide for veterinary science on ShanghaiRanking’s subject ranking. Its national laboratories cover animal disease control, swine and poultry breeding, green pesticides, agricultural equipment technology and plant space breeding. In crop science, veterinary medicine, animal science, plant protection, food science and agricultural engineering the supervisors and the equipment are genuinely strong; outside agriculture and its neighbours SCAU is a solid provincial comprehensive university rather than a national leader.
Contact
Contact the admissions offices
Reach the International Student Office, College of International Education, South China Agricultural University for questions about applications, documents, scholarships and arrival. Type university programs and offices are based on campus in Guangzhou.
- Office
- International Student Office, College of International Education, South China Agricultural University
- Address
- Room 321, College of International Education, No. 483 Wushan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China (the College’s application page gives its location as Building 6 on the Wushan campus; nearest metro is Exit A, Wushan Station, Guangzhou Metro Line 3)
- admissions@scau.edu.cn — international admissions, given on SCAU’s Chinese Government Scholarship prospectusice@scau.edu.cn — second admissions address given on the same prospectuscie@scau.edu.cn — College of International Education, general enquiries from prospective and current international studentsfao@scau.edu.cn — International Office, for university-to-university cooperation, delegations and visit requests
- Phone
- +86 20 8528 0037 — international admissions (named contacts on the prospectus: Ms Zhu, Mr Xiao, Ms Wu)+86 20 8528 0035 — College of International Education, international admissions+86 20 8528 0305 — College of International Education, international admissions020 8528 0110 — campus security hotline, for emergencies once you are on campus
Verified from official sources · last checked 2026-09-17
Tuition, fees and deadlines change every intake. Always confirm the current figures on the official South China Agricultural University pages before applying.
- SCAU English — Introduction to SCAU
- SCAU English — Overview
- SCAU English — Fact & Figures
- SCAU English — Admissions
- SCAU English — International Students (requirements, dormitory rates)
- SCAU English — Chinese Language Program (2019 edition)
- SCAU English — Programs of Master’s Degree
- SCAU English — Colleges & Departments
- SCAU English — Research overview
- SCAU English — Key Laboratories
- SCAU English — Global Partners
- SCAU English — international cooperation support
- SCAU English — campus services
- SCAU English — Library
- SCAU English — Contact Us
- SCAU English — Administration (departments and offices)
- SCAU English — Double First-Class announcement
- SCAU Chinese website — institutional data
- SCAU information disclosure — tuition and accommodation fee standards
- College of International Education — how to apply (windows, portals)
- CIE — Chinese Government Scholarship, Chinese University Program
- CIE — International Students in SCAU
- CIE — Study at CIE (contacts)
- CIE — Useful Information: finding a supervisor
- Guangzhou Dublin International College — introduction
- University College Dublin — about GDIC
- SCAU international brochure (PDF)
- QS Top Universities — SCAU profile
- China Daily Study in China — SCAU and food security
- Wikipedia — South China Agricultural University
- Wikipedia — Ding Ying
- Wikipedia — Lu Yonggen
- Wikipedia — Luo Xiwen