University Exchange Programs
A university exchange program in China is a place your home university nominates you for under an agreement you cannot see on DragonTrail. When that nomination does not exist, you are looking at a visiting or fee-paying program instead. We do not hold exchange seats and we do not know your campus agreement.
Information checked 29 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai).
The published example we could read is Fudan’s 2026 International Summer Session, not a full-year exchange catalog. Nominated tuition-waived exchange students paid neither the 400 RMB application fee nor tuition. Everyone else paid. Peking University’s visiting prices are for students who apply directly, and the page is stamped 2024-04-01. Those are not exchange fees.
At a Glance
| Who nominates you | Your home university, if it has an agreement. Fudan tells students to ask the home campus first whether a tuition-waived exchange exists. DragonTrail cannot look that up for every school. |
|---|---|
| What the waiver covered | On the Fudan summer pages: application fee and tuition, for students the home university nominates as tuition-waived exchange students. Not housing, meals, transport, or insurance. |
| If you are not nominated | Fudan’s self-pay price for that 2026 session was 22,000 RMB, or 19,800 RMB if a partner university nominated you for the discount. The session ran 13 July to 7 August 2026. |
| Not a semester exchange | That Fudan product is four weeks and English-taught. A fall semester under a different agreement is a different nomination, a different fee, and a different visa length. |
| Direct apply instead | Peking University’s general visiting page is not an exchange. It is an application you send yourself, at 18,000 or 24,000 RMB a semester on a page dated 2024-04-01. |
| Credit | Fudan describes the summer courses as credit-transferable and caps content courses at six credits inside the flat fee. Your home registrar still decides whether they count. |
| 2026 timing | International applications for that summer were due by 12:00 on 1 June 2026, with tuition due 15 June 2026. Those deadlines have passed. The next summer is a new notice. |
| Visa | A four-week session and a two-semester exchange do not share a visa. Use the admission letter’s dates. Over 180 days is the X1 pattern in the Beijing guide. |
| DragonTrail | We cannot nominate you, see the bilateral contract, or turn a visiting invoice into an exchange waiver. |
Exchange Means Your University Nominates You
University exchange programs in China are often advertised as if any student could buy the label. The Fudan summer pages say the opposite. A tuition-waived exchange student must first ask the home university whether a tuition-free agreement with Fudan exists, and must be nominated. Those nominated students do not pay the application fee or the tuition. A student who writes to Fudan alone is in the self-pay column, at the published summer price, unless a partner nomination unlocks the smaller discount. The agreement is between the universities. It is not a coupon on this website.
DragonTrail is not a party to those agreements and does not keep a directory of which home campuses have them. Universities and Schools explains Chinese universities as places you might study. It is not a list of exchange partners. If your study-abroad office says there is no agreement, the honest next step is a visiting program or a degree application, not a search for a secret exchange. Visiting Student Programs is that next step, with its own fee and its own date stamp.
Fudan’s 2026 Summer, as an Exchange Example Only
Fudan International Summer Session 2026 ran from 13 July to 7 August, four weeks, taught in English, with more than 40 courses the university calls credit-transferable, across modules such as medicine, business, law, history, science, Chinese, and sport. Eligibility on the municipal write-up is current university students aged 18 or over, with strong English and the health to manage the month. The fee page says the tuition is a flat rate, not a price per course, and that a student may take up to six credits of content courses plus physical education and a Chinese course for international students. Accommodation, food, insurance, and travel are excluded. One company visit and most activities are inside the fee. A day trip outside Shanghai is called out as extra.
Self-pay tuition was 22,000 RMB. Students officially nominated by a partner, but not on the full waiver, paid 19,800 RMB. The application fee was 400 RMB and non-refundable, except for the waived exchange nominees, who skipped both charges. International students were told to apply by noon on 1 June 2026 so there would be time for a visa, with tuition due on 15 June 2026. On 29 October 2026 that session is over. Quoting 22,000 RMB for a future July is a guess. Quoting it for a semester exchange is a category error.
A Visiting Application Is Not an Exchange
Peking University’s general visiting program is something you file yourself, after at least one undergraduate year at home. The page, stamped 2024-04-01, prices Chinese courses at 18,000 RMB a semester and credit courses at 24,000 RMB, with a 400 RMB application fee. It does not say a home-university nomination will zero those numbers. It does describe a separate window for Chinese Government Scholarship bilateral applicants. A scholarship route and an exchange waiver are both “someone else is involved,” and they are still not the same paperwork.
If your office calls a semester “exchange” but the host invoice looks like the visiting price, ask which document the host used: a nomination under an agreement, or an individual application. The visa form and the fee follow that choice. Semester Abroad in China is written for the one-term case. Academic Year Abroad in China is the two-term case. Neither page can see your campus contract. Bring the nomination email or the absence of one.
Credit Still Stops at Your Home Registrar
An exchange nomination does not force your home university to count every host course. Fudan says the summer courses are credit-transferable and then limits how many content credits the flat fee includes. Peking University’s visiting page points at a large catalog and does not state a credit total for the semester fee. Your study-abroad office may have a list of pre-approved courses, a grade conversion, and a cap on how many outside credits can enter your degree. Get that list before you accept a nomination, because a waived tuition is a poor trade if the year does not move you toward graduation.
Ask three practical questions. Who pays the host if the waiver is only partial? Who issues the transcript, and in which language? What happens if you fail a course the agreement assumed you would pass? DragonTrail will not convert 学分 into US semester hours. Academic Credits and Transcripts walks through why the scales differ. Take the host’s key and your office’s conversion chart to the same meeting.
Fees a Tuition Waiver Does Not Skip
Fudan’s waiver, even at its most generous, does not say it pays the flight, the room, meals, local transport, or insurance. The fee page says those sit outside tuition. A partner discount from 22,000 to 19,800 RMB is smaller than students sometimes hear. Peking University tells degree students to buy insurance before registration and tells visiting students that registration stops without it. Housing for a visiting semester is a separate inquiry to the dormitory office. A nomination email that says “tuition waived” should be read with a pencil under every cost it does not name.
Scholarship exchanges add another actor. Embassy pages for the 2026/2027 Chinese Government Scholarship describe a pre-admission document and a portal at campuschina.org, with deadlines that were not the same in every country and that have passed. A bilateral scholarship is not your university’s exchange agreement, even if both can reduce a bill. Cost of Studying is where the unnamed lines belong once you know which waiver you actually have. Until then, do not subtract 22,000 RMB from a budget that was never for that summer.
What To Ask Your Study-Abroad Office
Ask whether an agreement exists with the host you want, whether it covers a semester, a year, or only a summer, whether tuition is waived or discounted, and whether the host still has to admit you after nomination. Ask who pays housing. Ask which visa the host’s letter will support. Ask the credit cap. Write the answers down, because a verbal “we have something with China” is not a nomination to 复旦大学. If the office has no agreement, stop calling the plan an exchange.
DragonTrail can read the host page next to that email. We cannot make the office nominate you, and we cannot recreate Fudan’s 2026 waiver for a later year. Find a Suitable Program shows route types. Plan Your Study Stay is useful after the letter exists. How To Apply is the document sequence for routes you file yourself. An exchange, when it is real, starts in your own university’s office, not on a DragonTrail form.
Sources
These pages were read on 29 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai). Tuition, language thresholds, and application windows change, and several 2026-entry dates on them have already passed. Use the current page from the university or ministry that sets the rule.
- Fudan University — International Summer Session tuition and fees — retrieved 29 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai)
- Shanghai municipal English site — 2026 Fudan International Summer Session — retrieved 29 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai)
- Peking University — General Visiting Student Program (page time 2024-04-01) — retrieved 29 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai)
- Beijing municipal English guide — X1 and X2 student visa materials — retrieved 29 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai)
- Campus China — Chinese Government Scholarship portal — retrieved 29 October 2026 (Asia/Shanghai)
FAQ
Can I book a university exchange on this page?
No. An exchange place starts with your home university’s agreement and its nomination. DragonTrail is not a party to those agreements. If there is no nomination, look at a visiting program or a degree application instead of using the word exchange for a fee-paying seat.
Does Fudan waive tuition for every exchange student?
The 2026 summer pages waive the application fee and tuition for students nominated under a tuition-free agreement. Other partner nominees were offered 19,800 RMB instead of 22,000 RMB. Self-pay students paid 22,000 RMB. Housing and meals were extra. That session has ended, so a later summer needs a new price.
Is a visiting semester the same as an exchange?
No. Peking University’s general visiting page is an application you submit, with semester fees printed on a page stamped 2024-04-01. It does not describe a home-university nomination that cancels the fee. Use the document the host actually issued to decide which word is honest.
Will the courses count at home?
Only if your home university says so. Fudan calls the summer courses credit-transferable and caps content credits at six inside the flat fee. A nomination does not override a registrar’s cap. Ask for the course list and the grade conversion before you accept the place.
Does the waiver include housing?
Not on the Fudan fee page we read. Accommodation, food, insurance, and travel are excluded even when tuition is waived. A sentence that only says “tuition-free” leaves the room unpaid. Get the housing line from the host or from your office in writing.
What visa does an exchange use?
The one that matches the admission letter’s length. A four-week summer and a two-semester exchange are different. The Beijing guide uses 180 days to separate X2 and X1 patterns. Your office and the host’s visa note should agree before you book flights.
Are the June 2026 Fudan dates still open?
No. International applications were due on 1 June 2026 and tuition on 15 June 2026 for a session that ran in July and August 2026. This page was checked on 29 October 2026. The next International Summer Session, if Fudan runs one, will publish new dates.
What should I send if my office is unsure?
Send the office’s email, the host page you are reading, and whether you need a semester, a year, or a summer. We can help you see whether the page describes a nomination or a self-pay price. We cannot create the agreement or submit a nomination in your name.
Related Study Routes
- University Study in ChinaDegree and non-degree routes, with whose fee you are reading.
- Universities and SchoolsSchool names and league labels, read as a glossary.
- Find a Suitable ProgramHow study routes are organized. Not a university seat.
- Plan Your Study StayArrival, housing, and the first days in the city.
- How To ApplyDocuments and the order of a study application.
- Semester Abroad in ChinaOne term of courses, whether or not an exchange agreement exists.
Compare study routes, or tell us the credential, the teaching language, and the city. Neither button admits you to a university.