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Project narrative
In March 2018, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office (ECCO) of the Chinese Embassy in the Republic of Sierra Leone announced the 2018 MOFCOM scholarships, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, also known as the Chinese Government Scholarship. The Chinese Government scholarship is only available for post-graduate level studies (Masters and PhD). In 2018, the Ministry of Commerce's foreign aid degree education program admitted 62 Sierra Leonean students, including 3 doctoral students and 59 master students. The admission institutions under this program include Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, University of International Business and Economics, and 23 other domestic colleges. On August 24, 2018, the Chinese Embassy held the farewell ceremony in Freetown for the students who received Chinese scholarships that year, in what was called "the annual China Night Farewell Party for Chinese Government Scholarship Recipients". Representatives from Sierra Leone's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation attended the ceremony. 111 scholarships were reportedly handed out during this 'China Dinner' at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. The additional under-graduate scholarships handed out at this time are unknown, as the Chinese Ambassador Scholarship (recorded in Record ID#67541) was awarded after this dinner, in October 2018. On August 31, 2018, the Economic and Commercial Counselor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone held a farewell party for Sierra Leonean post-graduate students leaving to study in China under the 2018 MOFCOM scholarship.