content
1. overview of the program
2. application guidance
3. scholarship
4. graduate research areas
5. campus life
6. appendix: curriculum plan
1. overview of the program
aiming at the development of technical and sustainable solutions that minimize the impact of human activities on the environment, the english doctoral program in environmental science, engineering and management covers the areas of environmental engineering and science, and environmental management and planning.
the program is designed to train students with solid theoretical and systematic professional knowledge and the skills in the field of environmental engineering and management, and to prepare to approach the forefront of environmental engineering and management with a combination of coursework and research components. highly flexible learning is a distinguishing feature of this program that allows the development of either intensive or broadened abilities of the students.
2. application guidance
2.1. degree offered
doctor of philosophy in environmental science and engineering
students must complete the coursework to fulfill the minimum credit requirement and qualify for the degree conferral. a research-based thesis defense is an essential part of the degree.
2.2. courses offered in english
coursework structure:
the degree is research-oriented that requires in-depth knowledge of a specific topic of study. the doctoral program is highly individualized, but in general consists of two main components: coursework and independent research. students are admitted to a specific project of study and assigned a supervisor. while most students enter in the fall, it is possible to begin studies in the spring term. admission to the doctoral program does not naturally confirm a doctoral candidature. doctoral candidature is a significant milestone towards a doctoral degree, and will not be confirmed unless candidates could present a scientifically feasible proposal with a novel research topic. completion of the subsequent research occurs with a successful oral defense of a written dissertation. the study period of the program is 3-4 years.
during the study for doctoral degree, at least 16 credits, which include 4 credits for public compulsory courses, 7 credits for subjective specialized courses (containing at least 3 credits for basic theory courses and no less than 4 credits for basic theory courses), as well as at least 5 credits for required course, are required for the degree. self-study courses are excluded.
courses offered:
spring semester:
advanced environmental chemistry
advanced wastewater treatment
restoration ecology and application
global environmental issues
hazardous waste disposal technology
environmental transport processes
atmospheric chemical transport model
urban storm water management: theory and practices
autumn semester:
fundamentals of environmental biotechnology
advanced water distribution system and management
advanced water supply engineering
environmental management and policy
integrated solid waste management
air pollution control technology
biofilms: fundamentals to applications
note: for the completion of thesis, relevant courses offered by other schools or departments can also be selected. most courses given in chinese are also available for international students.
2.3. independent-study courses
systematic independent-study on research topic related specialized knowledge should be developed under the guidance of supervisor, which can be listed into training program.
2.4. phd qualifying examination
the phd qualifying examination is aimed to assess how well the students understand the fundamentals and principles in the relevant fields, and whether the student has the ability to think scientifically and critically about both theoretical and practical researches. the examination is normally delivered after a formal presentation by the candidates and will not be approved unless all the examiners consent that the student has demonstrated sufficient content of research and is potentially capable to work out an acceptable dissertation within the required timescale. the examination should usually be taken in the second year of a phd candidate; and passing of the examination gives students the advancement to candidacy.
2.5 thesis
a dissertation proposal must be presented and approved at least 12 months before the dissertation defense. the proposal should be prepared in consultation with the dissertation committee. the dissertation committee decides the result of the proposal defense. possible outcomes are fail and pass. a successful dissertation proposal is another significant milestone towards the completion of a doctoral degree.
the dissertation defense cannot proceed unless the minimum requirement for a phd is satisfied. it is required that a successful doctoral dissertation must lead to at least one published or accepted paper in peer-reviewed, sci indexed journal with impact factors ≥ 2.0. the candidates should send a final written thesis 3-4 months in advance to all the professors of the defense committee, who may have enough time to read it through before the defense. doctoral defenses are open to the public in most cases. candidates are required to submit the details (date, time location) of the meeting, a dissertation abstract, and a list of all committee members to the administrative staff prior to the scheduled defense. possible outcomes include fail and pass, which will be decided by the committee. failure of a thesis defense requires the student to substantially rework on the dissertation and defend the revised dissertation within 12 months. candidates who pass the dissertation defense are also needed to make revisions to the dissertation according to the comments of the committee. in either case the candidate will be informed of the outcome in a meeting with the presence of his/her supervisor.
2.6. qualification of applicants
applicants must be non-chinese citizens with a valid passport.
applicants for doctoral program should have a master’s degree or an equivalent degree to a master’s degree (or above) in china. their degrees should be in environmental science and engineering, environmental economics and management, civil engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, biology, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering or other relevant fields.
applicants should hold a bachelor degree, which was obtained through a formal 4-year program with at least 100 credits or 30 courses. the master degree should be a formal program with at least 18 credits or 6 courses.
all the applicants are expected to have basic knowledge of calculus, general chemistry and biology. more specialized knowledge is required if the applicants want to conduct research on environmental science and engineering, including: water treatment, water supply, air pollution control, solid waste treatment and control, environmental biology and environmental chemistry. if the applicants want to focus on management and planning, they should have knowledge in probability and statistics. each applicant should use a table to clarify how he/she can meet these requirements in the personal statement.
applicants should be in good health and of good character, be well-behaved and be willing to abide by china's laws and regulations, as well as tsinghua’s rules.
language skills requirements:
for non- english native speakers, one of the following conditions shall be met.
a. major courses in undergraduate period were given in english and this shall be clearly stated in the applicants’ transcripts
or
b. applicants provide the transcript of either toefl (minimum 90 for overall score and 23 for writing component) or ielts (minimum 6.5 for overall score and 6.0 for writing component) or equivalent.
for information on the required documents for bachelor degree holders who wish to pursue doctoral degrees, please refer to the following link:
http://gradadmission.tsinghua.edu.cn/f/yzlxs/yz_lxs_kstzb/view?id=357989
2.7. application schedule
1st round: 8:00 am oct 15, 2020——17:00 pm dec 15, 2020
2nd round: 8:00 am jan 1, 2021——17:00 pm mar 1, 2021
online application should be completed by mar 15, 2020.
⟡the winter break of thu will be from jan 14, 2021 to feb 19, 2021. the application system will still be available during the winter break, but online verification might be delayed due to the vacation. applicants are therefore recommended to complete their application at least two or three weeks in advance.
step 1: online application
applicants should complete the online application on the website of the thu graduate programs application system for international students during the designated thu application period. ()
applicants should fill in the application information online, upload the application documents listed below to the online application system, and pay the application fee online at the time of submission.
step 2: document submission
all students should present the necessary original or notarized degree certificate upon registration at tsinghua university for enrollment qualification review. students who fail enrollment qualification review will be disqualified from enrollment.
2.8. documents for application
please upload all the listed documents below to the application system:
1. personal statement. applicants should submit both a personal statement and a brief introduction of their research experience or research plan. the personal statement should be filled out in accordance with the requirements of university template.
2. degree certificate. applicants should submit both their master's and bachelor's degree certificates. applicants who will not graduate before the application deadline shall provide the expected graduation certificate first, and the degree diploma must be submitted before registration. (applicants who have graduated are recommended to provide a certified copy or an authentication of the degree diploma at the same time. the certified copy / authentication and the original degree diploma should be combined into one pdf file and uploaded to the application system.)
3. academic transcript. applicants should submit academic transcripts of both graduate and undergraduate studies.applicants who will not graduate before the application deadline shall provide their current academic transcript. in this case, the completed academic transcript must be submitted before registration.
4. two academic recommendation letters from scholars who have the title of associate professor or higher, or senior professionals in a related academic field. please follow the instructions on the online system for submission of online recommendation letters or upload the recommendation letters signed by references.
5. passport personal information page (personal and ordinary passport). (according to article 3 of the nationality law of the people's republic of china, any individual who was a chinese national and then acquired a foreign nationality shall provide a certificate of cancellation of chinese household registration.)
note：use the online application to apply. the online application system offers tools for collecting and submitting some, but not all, of the documents and information required for application.
2.9. application remarks
1. applicants are required to submit scanned images of all required documents at the time of application. all uploaded documents should be in chinese or in english; otherwise notarial translations in chinese or english are required. once translated, the original documents and certified translations are to be submitted together to the application system.
2. please scan the original or notarized application documents in color using a scanner. images captured by mobile phone or camera are not acceptable. copies are also not acceptable.
3. the application fee must be paid at the time when the application is submitted. (it cannot be covered by the chinese government scholarship). thu is not responsible for errors made by applicants during the application process. there are no application fee refunds.
4. applications with incomplete documents or without application fee payment will not be processed.
5. thu has the right to request the applicants to provide the original or notarial hardcopies of application documents for further qualification checks if the uploaded documents are not sufficient. applicants shall guarantee all the information and application documents submitted in this application are authentic and accurate, otherwise they will be disqualified from admission.
6. as some countries’ higher education systems are very different from the chinese system, applicants from different education systems should refer to thu’s online application website for reference.
7. none of the above application documents will be returned.
contact information:
associate dean: dr. wu ye
assistant dean& manager of soe international office: dr. zhao ming
e-mail: ming.zhao@tsinghua.edu.cn
manager of soe international programs: ms. wang zejun
e-mail: hjxgs@tsinghua.edu.cn
tel: 86-10-62797857
fax: 86-10-62785687
mailing address:
office of international graduate programs
school of environment
tsinghua university, beijing 100084, p. r. china
2.10. admission process
after the complete application documents are received, the application materials will be reviewed and pre-screened by a group of faculty members in the school. usually the top 30 applicants will be shortlisted for an online interview via skype. the shortlisted students will likely be notified in march. during the interview, they will be re-ranked by the interview committee. the number of admitted students varies each year depending on the scholarship funding of that year. furthermore, not all of the accepted students could be granted full scholarship.
decisions of the committee will be reviewed and confirmed by the associate dean for educational affairs. each accepted applicant is required to sign and submit a formal letter to declare one’s acceptance of the offer and the full understanding of the acceptance conditions. offers of admission that are not accepted by the applicants within the required time will be withdrawn.
admission to the graduate programs of school of environment is competitive: not all the applicants who satisfy the minimum requirements can be accepted. the international office is not responsible for explaining the admission results.
furthermore, the scholarship granted by the government and university covers full-time students only. the spouse of students is not considered.
no enrollment will be processed in case an applicant is absent during the required time period for registration without notifying in advance. we will regard this case as the automatic withdrawal by the student.
note: admission to the graduate program is determined at the school level with oversight by tsinghua university according to the result of document review, result of interview, and other factors. thu graduate admission office will issue the certificate of admission after the final admission result is released. prior to this, applicants may check admission status via the thu graduate programs application system for international students.
2.11. visa application and admission registration
admitted students should bring their personal and ordinary passport, certificate of admission, visa application form (jw202/jw201), and original form of physical examination record for foreigners (as well as other original documents of physical examination) to the embassy or consulate of the people's republic of china, and apply for a student visa (x1 visa). students must enter china with an ordinary passport and x1 visa, and must apply for a residence permit within 30 days after arrival in china.
students are required to arrive at thu (along with the required documents) and complete their university registration during the dates indicated in the admission package. . students who intend to live in an on-campus dormitory shall apply for the room online during the dates specified in the university instructions.
normally, registration is held in late august. all students should present the required original degree certificates, and submit the degree copies certified by degree conferring institutions or certification authorities upon registration at tsinghua university for enrollment qualification review. students who fail the enrollment qualification review will be disqualified from enrollment.
2.12. accommodation
due to limited dormitory capacity, on-campus rooms can only be reserved for those who have successfully applied online. for chinese government scholarship (full-scholarship) recipient, a dormitory on campus will be reserved by the university. those who fail to apply for the dorm online have to find off-campus accommodation independently.
detailed information regarding thu academic life, accommodation, student activities, visa, and residence permit application, as well as other useful information, is available at.
application fee, tuition, and other costs:
（3） application fee (non-refundable): rmb 800
（4） tuition: rmb 40,000/year.
（5） accidental injury and hospitalization insurance: rmb 800/year.
accommodation:
for details, please refer to the link:
3. scholarship
tsinghua university offers two main kinds of scholarship to incoming full-time international graduate students: chinese government scholarship (cgs) and tuition scholarships.
the full cgs covers tuition fees, living allowance, on-campus accommodation, and comprehensive medical insurance. for incoming full-time international graduate students there are two kinds of channel through which to apply for cgs: through chinese embassies or consulates in your home country or through chinese universities. (*applicants can choose only one application channel. repeated application through more than one channel is not allowed.) for more information about cgs, please visit the website of china scholarship council (csc):
http://www.campuschina.org/
qualified applicants are encouraged to apply to the dispatching authorities for overseas study or chinese embassies/consulates in their home country. please consult the chinese embassy/consulate in advance, as the application schedule varies from country to country (usually from november to april prior to the beginning of study). for the contact information of chinese embassies/consulates, please visit the website of the ministry of foreign affairs of the people’s republic of china.
qualified applicants who meet the requirements of “cgs-chinese university program” could choose to apply for cgs through tsinghua university’s recommendation instead. however, the number of candidates that can be recommended by tsinghua university each year is very limited and is subjected to the approval of csc.
tuition scholarships include the beijing government scholarship (for full-time master’s program students) and tsinghua university scholarship (for full-time doctoral program students). tuition scholarships cover full or partial tuition fee support with a duration of one academic year and could be applied year by year (competitive).
for detailed information and to make a scholarship application, please refer to the introduction to scholarships for incoming full-time international graduate students at tsinghua university at
http://gradadmission.tsinghua.edu.cn
school of environment financial support
to support those who have not been granted the full scholarship and are not in a good economic condition, accommodation fee could be fully covered by the school after a full consideration of the applicants’ potential in study and research. the amount is around rmb 22,000 but may be adjusted each year. the application of financial support can be submitted to the school before or after getting the admission.
the students, who already get full scholarship from other sources, will not be supported.
4. graduate research areas
there are 12 divisions in soe.
for detailed information, please refer to the link:
5. campus life
soe is a friendly and welcoming community where students can get involved in a variety of clubs and activities. students may choose from more than 100 student associations of the university and activities, such as sports competition, community service, social and environmental awareness, new year’s party, tourist visits to chinese cultural and historical destinations, concerts etc.
soe also hosts a variety of academic events that are open to all the students across the country, such as the national doctoral candidates conference and tsinghua environmental-friendly science & technology competition.
students are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities, so that they can achieve a well-rounded development.
in 2010, forbes listed 14 of the world’s most beautiful college campuses. of which ten are from u.s., three from europe, and tsinghua is the only one from asia. besides the unique historical architectures, pleasant natural environment, tsinghua provides the students with various services that are convenient for everyone and make the school life here enjoyable.
for detailed information, please refer to the link:
the school of environment launched the international student ambassador program in 2016. ambassadors are assigned a group of incoming students, to whom they provide guidance on a range of matters relating to studying and living in china.
6. appendix
other unfinished matters in this guide are implemented in accordance with 'admission to graduate programs of tsinghua university 2021(for international students).
