Jazreel Goh, education marketing director, British Council in China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"The University of Cambridge will support just one student from China studying for a master's degree with the Great Scholarships because we have to be evenhanded with students from different countries," says Sue Osterfield, deputy director of the Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust, which provides international students at Cambridge with scholarships, including several hundred from China.

"Students need to be well-qualified to meet the entry requirements of our university," she says. "With more scholarships offered at Cambridge, we will attract the best students."

The university will not restrict the types of courses available to successful applicants who receive a 20,000 pounds scholarship, Osterfield says. Successful candidates will still have to provide funds for living expenses and any additional tuition fees.

When assessing applicants' suitability for a scholarship, Osterfield says the university will not only judge them on academic merit, but also take into account if students will fit into the courses, their academic objectives and their personal statements.

According to Osterfield, Cambridge has experienced an increase in Chinese applicants in recent years, with most popular courses being engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics and law. Students from China also make up the second-largest group of overseas students at the university.

Three Chinese students for the PhD program and one for the master's program at the University of Liverpool will each receive a 5,500 pounds Great Scholarship.

"As for the scholarship, we will take into account their achievements, undergraduate institution and their arguments for what they want to do with the qualification once they receive it. In the personal statement, they need to make the best case for themselves as possible," says professor Graham Kemp, director of the Liverpool Doctoral College.

Kemp says that for PhD programs, engineering, chemistry, environmental science and management have proved the most popular among Chinese students. The university has been developing more short-term placements for PhD students over the past few years, he says.

Meanwhile, the China Education Expo 2017 is currently on tour and stopping at Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai between Oct 21 and 29, with about 60 UK institutions attending. They will promote UK-China joint programs and offer consultations for the Great Scholarships.