Southeast University (Nanjing) Admission Guide for International Students

First, a name to get right: Southeast is not Nanjing University

Before anything else, fix this point, because it causes real, avoidable mistakes. Southeast University (东南大学, SEU) and Nanjing University (南京大学) are two different institutions in the same city. They are not campuses of one another, not a merger, and not alternative English names for the same place. Each runs its own separate admissions system.

The confusion is easy to fall into: Southeast University is located in Nanjing, so applicants — and sometimes the agents advising them — treat 'the university in Nanjing' as one entity. The consequences are practical: an application, a document set, a scholarship form or a fee sent to the wrong institution does not get forwarded, and a deadline missed that way is simply missed.

So before you submit anything, check that the portal you are using, the address on your documents and the name on your scholarship forms all say Southeast University. If your target is Nanjing University instead, use that university's own official system.

What Southeast University is actually known for

SEU is a long-established research university in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province in eastern China. Its academic reputation centres on architecture, civil engineering, and electronic and information engineering, with further teaching strength in transportation, biomedical engineering and communications. It also spans the sciences, medicine, management and the humanities.

Its international students are served by a dedicated College of International Students, based on the Jiulonghu Campus, while the historic Sipailou Campus remains central to university life. If architecture or civil engineering is your field, SEU's identity is a genuine reason to look here rather than at a general comprehensive university.

• Signature fields: architecture, civil engineering, electronic and information engineering
• Further strengths: transportation, biomedical engineering, communications
• Campuses include the historic Sipailou Campus and the Jiulonghu Campus, where the College of International Students is based

Applying through the College of International Students

Applications from international students go through SEU's College of International Students, which handles admissions, scholarships, housing and student services for international undergraduates, graduates and exchange students. You apply through its online system: register, complete the form and upload documents.

Standard documents include your passport, academic transcripts and certificates, a study or research plan, recommendation letters for postgraduate study, and a language certificate. The current-year checklist, deadline and application fee are published officially — follow that version rather than a summary you find elsewhere.

• Apply via SEU's College of International Students (cis.seu.edu.cn), based at Jiulonghu Campus
• Documents: passport, transcripts and certificates, study plan, references, language certificate
• Double-check every form says Southeast University, not Nanjing University

Bachelor applicants: the CSCA test

If you are applying for an undergraduate degree, there is a requirement that much of the older guidance online does not mention. Official Chinese government notices state that from the 2026/2027 academic year, applicants for bachelor's degree study in China must take the China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA) before submitting an application. It is organised by the China Scholarship Council together with experts from Chinese universities, and you register at csca.cn.

The assessment covers Chinese in either a Humanities or a STEM stream, plus mathematics, physics and chemistry. Those three fundamental subjects are offered in both Chinese and English, and you select the test language according to what your intended university requires — which for an architecture or engineering applicant is worth confirming early, since it determines how you prepare.

Subject combinations, test dates and registration windows vary and change between cycles, so confirm on csca.cn and on SEU's official admissions pages exactly what applies to your programme and level.

Language rules and Jiangsu's extra scholarship layer

Chinese-taught programmes require an HSK certificate at a programme-set level; English-taught programmes require English proficiency, typically IELTS or TOEFL. A selected set of SEU programmes is taught in English, most visibly at postgraduate level, and the list changes each intake — verify the current options and the exact HSK band or English score on SEU's official international admissions pages rather than on third-party summaries.

On funding, SEU applicants have a layer that students in many other provinces do not: alongside the Chinese Government Scholarship (administered by the China Scholarship Council) and the university's own awards, Jiangsu provincial government scholarships exist for international students in the province. Eligibility, coverage and amounts differ by scheme and by year, so treat any specific figure as unverified until you confirm it on the CSC portal and Southeast University's official scholarship pages.

• Three funding channels to check: Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC), Jiangsu provincial scholarships, SEU's own awards
• HSK for Chinese-taught; IELTS or TOEFL for English-taught — thresholds set per programme
• English-taught options are most visible at postgraduate level

Costs, the student visa and scam-awareness

Tuition, accommodation and living costs, the main intakes and the deadlines are all set out on SEU's official international admissions site — verify the current numbers there.

After admission, you apply for a Chinese student visa at a Chinese embassy or consulate using your admission letter and visa documents. This is general information, not immigration advice — check the current visa rules and procedures on the official embassy website before acting on them.

No agent or website can guarantee you a place or a scholarship at Southeast University. Treat any paid 'guaranteed admission' offer as a scam, and be alert to commercial sites that imitate the China Scholarship Council's name and branding. Apply only through the official College of International Students channels and the official CSC portal — and, once more, confirm the institution's name on every document before you send it.