University of Science and Technology of China

The University of Science and Technology of China was founded in 1958 under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is a member of the C9 League. It is among the strongest institutions in China for physics, computer science and materials science, and is unusual in being run under the Academy of Sciences rather than the Ministry of Education alone. It publishes its language requirement plainly, and it is demanding: a new HSK Level 5 certificate with transcripts, or proof of studying at a high school where the teaching language is Chinese. That second route is worth noting. A Kazakh applicant who attended a Chinese-medium school satisfies the requirement without an HSK certificate. Hefei is a smaller city than Beijing or Shanghai with correspondingly lower living costs, and the university's concentration on the sciences means a narrower subject range than the broader C9 institutions.