Background:

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is a public research university in Illinois, USA. It is the flagship institution of the University of Illinois system.

Program Overview:

This cooperative program between UIUC and USTC is a collaboration where students may earn a bachelor's degree from USTC and a non-thesis master's degree from UIUC by completing four years of coursework at USTC and master's coursework at UIUC.

At USTC, the participants in the program will be limited to enrolment in existing Bachelor of Science degree programs in Finance or Management Science. At UIUC, participants in the program will be limited to enrolment in Master of Science in Technology Management degree program, Master of Science in Finance, as well as the Master of Science in Accountancy degree program, offered by the College of Business at Urbana-Champaign.

After completion of the first three years of the Bachelor of Science program at USTC, students may apply for the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program at USTC. USTC will select candidates for admittance to the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program based upon their academic records and English language proficiency level.

If admitted for the Finance and Business Elite Program, students will enrol in a special curriculum, jointly designed by USTC and UIUC, that will allow students to complete the normal 4th-year degree requirements for the USTC Bachelor of Science degree, while also completing a 1-year preparatory program for Master of Science Program at UIUC.

During the first semester of the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program at USTC, students will apply for admittance to a Master of Science program offered by the College of Business at UIUC. At the end of the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program at USTC, students who have successfully completed all the necessary requirements as determined by USTC will be awarded a USTC Bachelor of Science degree.

Credit Transfer:

Participants who are enrolled in the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program at USTC, and who are accepted by UIUC into a Master of Science program will be eligible to transfer up to 8 credit hours of graduate credits towards the UIUC Master of Science degree from credits earned during the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program at USTC.

The Master of Science program to which a USTC student is admitted, in conjunction with other UIUC units, must approveall courses that USTC Participants seek to transfer to UIUC.

USTC will provide, at the time of application, course syllabi for all graduate courses transferrable to UIUC. The criterion UIUC will employ in its decision concerning transfer credit is shall be the extent to which the USTC course is comparable to the same graduate course at UIUC.

Academic credits earned by USTC students during their time at USTC, including those earned during the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program, may be applied to eitherthe USTC Bachelor of Science Degree or the UIUC Master of Science degree. Credit from a single course may not be applied to both degrees.

Am I Qualified?

USTC will find students in their fourth year of undergraduate education for potential participation in this program and recommend these candidates to UIUC. All potential participants must:

1.       Complete three academic years of study towards their degree requirements for a Bachelor of Science in Financeor Management Science, as well as the 1-year Finance and Business Elite Program at USTC, by the time of their enrolment at UIUC

2.       Have taken the GMAT and submitted an official score report to the College of Business, (This is part of the standard requirements for application to a master's degree program offered by the College of Business at UIUC)

3.       Satisfy the minimum English language proficiency requirements for acceptance into graduate programsat UIUC. This minimum proficiency may be demonstrated by providing official score reports from a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or from an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination taken within the previous two years from the date of application. Currently, international applicants for graduate study at UIUC qualify for full status admission if they have obtained at least the following scores:

a.       TOEFL: greater than 610 (paper-based test); greater than 253 (computer-based test); or greater than 102 (internet-based test)

b.       IELTS: greater than 6.5

4.       Applicants may be qualified for limited admission status if they have obtained at least the following scores:

a.       TOEFL: 550(paper-based test); 213 (computer-based test); or 79 (internet-based test)

b.       6.5, and/or a scoreof greater than 6 on any sub-section

UIUC will evaluate and screen potential USTC applicants for academic eligibility. USTC applicants wanting to start the program must follow the normal application deadline. Admission decision will be based upon number of qualified applicants, number of spaces available in the specified graduate programs at UIUC, or other considerations to be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

Participants selected for admission into the UIUC Master of Science programs may be admitted conditionally as graduate students in a Master of Science program offered by the College of Business at UIUC, pending the certification of award of their Bachelor of Science degree by USTC and satisfactory academic performance at UIUC subject to the same standards used for all degree seeking graduate students.

Costs and Fees:

Students who meet all requirements and who want to participate in the program will be required to register as full-time, degree-seeking students each semester, and will be subject to the standard tuition and fees assessed by the Institution hosting the Participants during the semester. At UIUC, USTC students will be responsible for full, non-resident tuition and fees, as assessed to all other international students.

That is, if accepted to the program and a student wishes to go, some fees they may incur include (but are not limited to):

1.       Transportation to and from UIUC

2.       Room and board

3.       Textbooks, notebooks,class materials

4.       Clothing, leisure,personal expenses

5.       Student service fees

6.       Health care and health insurance

7.       Passport and visa costs

Questions?

For questions regarding the UIUCside of the program, please refer to the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign's College of Business website.