Undergraduate and junior college students applying for the National Scholarship must be of Chinese nationality, according to a newly released document, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The measures on the appraisal for the National Scholarship for undergraduate and junior college students were jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance.

Apart from the new nationality requirement, there are some other notable changes in the new guideline from the previous one.

Two more competitions have been recognized as discipline events to help students apply for the scholarship.

The two newly recognized competitions are the China College Students "Internet Plus" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and the National Vocational Students Skills Competition.

In addition, the number of National Scholarship has been increased by 10,000, which will be awarded to outstanding full-time higher vocational school students, who each will receive 8,000 yuan ($1,120) per year.

China has set up the National Scholarship for Secondary Vocational Education this year to reward exceptional full-time students studying in secondary vocational schools, including technical schools. The scholarship, 6,000 yuan per person per year, will be awarded to 20,000 top students.

The two ministries also issued tentative measures for the appraisal of this scholarship. According to the proposed steps, full-time students in their second year or higher can apply for the scholarship and the applicants must be in the top 30 percent of their class.

The number of National Scholarship for Secondary Vocational Education should be appropriately allocated to schools with majors in agriculture and forestry, geology, old-age care and domestic service and those geared toward training talents urgently needed by advanced manufacturing and emerging industries, the document said.