Guangdong University of Foreign Studies — guide for international students

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (广东外语外贸大学, often shortened to 广外 or GDUFS) took its present form in 1995, when two government institutions merged: the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages, set up in November 1964 and admitting its first students in July 1965, and the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Trade, founded in 1980. It is designated a priority institution in Guangdong Province’s high-level university programme (广东省高水平大学重点建设高校). It is not on the national Double First-Class list.

The university is organised around languages, economics, business and law. Its introduction page, marked as updated to September 2026, lists 77 undergraduate majors covering 33 foreign languages, doctoral authority in three first-level disciplines (foreign languages and literatures, applied economics and law) plus professional doctorates in translation and law, and 13 first-level and 60 second-level master’s disciplines with 21 professional master’s degrees. The same page counts about 21,264 undergraduates, 6,720 graduate students and 1,656 international students from 99 countries, taught by 2,145 staff across three campuses in Guangzhou: Baiyun Mountain (the north campus, where international students are based), University Town and Dalang. The homepage’s stat strip gives slightly different student numbers — 21,144 full-time undergraduates and 6,226 doctoral and master’s students — so treat the totals as approximate.

International students are the responsibility of the Institute for International Education (留学生教育学院, IIE). GDUFS’s predecessor set up a teaching unit for Chinese as a foreign language in 1986 and began teaching foreign students formally in 1987, with a first group of 21 organised by the Sino-French and Sino-Japanese friendship associations. The unit became the Institute for International Education in March 2007, when it had 690 students from 58 countries. GDUFS was approved to host Chinese Government Scholarship students in 2010, began running the HSK in 2008, and in May 2012 became the first internet-based HSK test centre in south China. The IIE’s own history records its international enrolment passing 2,000 for the first time in 2013 (2,154 students from 111 countries and regions).

GDUFS admits international students to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and to a range of non-degree Chinese-language programs, all through the Institute for International Education and the online system at gdufs.17gz.org. For autumn 2026 the degree application window ran from 1 March to 20 June 2026, and after submitting online you must confirm with the IIE admissions office by phone or email — the notice treats that confirmation as part of the application. Three things set GDUFS apart. First, the age limits are relatively generous: bachelor’s applicants should generally be no older than 30, master’s applicants 35 and doctoral applicants 40. Second, undergraduate study splits three ways — Chinese-taught majors in which international students study alongside Chinese students, a dedicated Chinese Language (汉语言) BA run by the IIE that you can enter in year 1 with no HSK, and a small set of English-taught business majors. Third, from the 2026/2027 year all undergraduate applicants must first sit the China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA); GDUFS requires mathematics of everyone, lets English-taught applicants skip the professional-Chinese paper, and exempts Chinese Language BA applicants from professional Chinese if they hold a valid HSK 4 report. Master’s and doctoral applicants sit a GDUFS entrance examination (written test plus interview). The 2026 notice attaches the tuition schedule as an appendix rather than printing it in the page text; the figures below come from the IIE’s standing program pages, which carry no year, so confirm the current rate for your program with the admissions office before you pay.

Degree programs

Select a degree level to see tuition, duration and entry requirements.

Non-degree programs

Documents to prepare

Application timeline

These are the dates Guangdong University of Foreign Studies 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.

GDUFS offers four kinds of funding: Chinese Government Scholarships (GDUFS has hosted CSC students since 2010), the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship, the Guangdong Government scholarship for international students and GDUFS’s own tuition waivers. The Guangdong and GDUFS awards are modest. The Guangdong award is a one-off cash grant, and the GDUFS award waives first-year or first-semester tuition only. The only full-ride option for a Chinese-language student is the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship, which pays tuition, accommodation, RMB 2,500 a month in living expenses and insurance. Order matters for the GDUFS and Guangdong awards: finish the online application and wait for the IIE’s confirmation before applying, or the scholarship application is invalid. For 2026 both awards closed on 5 July 2026, applications going to iiescholarship@163.com. The standing GDUFS scholarship page gives an annual window of 1 May – 30 June instead, so check the current year’s notice.

GDUFS’s research is concentrated in the humanities and social sciences: linguistics and translation, foreign literatures, international trade and economics, and international law. The university introduction (data to September 2026) lists two national-level research platforms and 37 provincial ones. One of the two national platforms is the Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (外国语言学及应用语言学研究中心). Other named institutes cover translation studies, the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road and the development of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. For an international graduate student, this is where master’s and doctoral supervision is strongest.

GDUFS is internationally oriented by design. It teaches 33 foreign languages and, per its introduction (data to September 2026), works with 536 universities and institutions in 71 countries and regions. It also runs 7 Confucius Institutes and Classrooms on five continents. For international students, the most direct result is the IIE itself, which in 2013 already taught more than 2,000 students from 111 countries and regions and now hosts 1,656 from 99 countries.

GDUFS’s programs are built for careers that need languages, especially trade, logistics, translation, media and Chinese teaching. The Chinese Language BA’s five directions are Business Chinese, International Logistics, Culture and Communication, Chinese–Thai Translation and Chinese International Education. The university does not publish employment or salary figures for international graduates on its international-student pages. Career questions go to the IIE’s student affairs office.

International students live and study on the Baiyun Mountain (north) campus at No. 2 North Baiyun Avenue, Baiyun District, where the IIE’s office is in Room 102 of Building 7 (Mingde teaching building). The international student dormitory is Building 16, with double rooms and four-person rooms (the four-person rooms are on the ground floor), balconies, a shared laundry room and a shared kitchen. The 2026 notices quote RMB 4,800 per bed per semester in a double room or RMB 2,400 in a four-bed room. Water and electricity are included up to a quota and internet is free. Places on campus are confirmed by the university, and there is no campus housing during the summer holidays.

Accommodation

Dining

Building 16 has a shared kitchen for residents. The IIE does not publish canteen locations or meal prices on its international-student pages, so budget for food separately.

Facilities

Reach the Institute for International Education (留学生教育学院), Guangdong University of Foreign Studies — Admissions Office, Room 102 for questions about applications, documents, scholarships and arrival. Type university programs and offices are based on campus in Guangzhou.