1.On-campus dormitory

International students can apply for on-campus accommodation. You should sign an agreement when moving into the dormitory, and go through relevant procedures for check-in. During your stay, please follow the rules and regulations of on-campus accommodation. For international students who extend their study period, the University does not provide on-campus accommodation.

In order to meet the diverse needs of students, there are different types of dormitories available for international students, including three-bedroom apartment, two-bedroom apartment and etc. Accommodation fee standards vary according to the type of student accommodation.

The dormitory for international students is equipped with furniture such as wardrobe, desk, bed, chair, and household appliances such as air conditioner, refrigerator, washing machine, electric heater, microwave oven, electric kettle, water heater, gas stove, hood, etc. The University also arranges regular cleaning and maintenance service for international students living on-campus. Professional property management team is hired to manage our students’ dormitories.

2.Off-campus accommodation

Students may also choose to live off-campus under the condition that they must register themselves at the police station of their residential area and obtain Accommodation Registration Receipt from the local police station. If you are living off campus, do ensure that your rental contract with you landlord is legitimate and reliable.

Students who changed their address and contact information while they are studying at University of Science and Technology of China must inform International Students Office of their new and recent address, telephone number and email address. It is important for International Students Office to be able to contact its students because we often send out important notifications to students. International Students Office maintains a strict policy of keeping all contact information confidential.

For food options available on campus, USTC has several canteens, supermarkets and coffee shops that offer different food and beverages. Furthermore, at an average price per meal of around 10RMB, eating on campus is a very economical option.

There are many canteens available for students and working staffs on campus. The campus canteens have very strict opening hours, so please be aware of that before you go. Most canteens, for example, open for lunch between 11:30 to 1:00 and for dinner between 5pm and 7pm. The opening hours are listed in the following chart.

In the canteens, you can find food booths lined alongside each other. To order your food, you need to tell the service attendant which dishes you want and swipe your campus card on the payment machine. Cash and online payment are not acceptable in most canteens on campus.

Note: the canteens marked in blue provide Halal Food

USTC Library has 3 branches respectively in the West, East and South Campus, and all of them are equipped with book-returned-boxes through which the readers can return the books more conveniently. Covering a total area of 35000 square meters, with book stacks open-shelfed and over 3000 seats available in 20 reading rooms, it provides all the readers, faculty and students with various services and rich resources. USTC Library is accessible to our international students. Due to security reasons, students are required to swipe their campus card, which serves as their library card, at the building’s entrance in order to enter the library. If you encounter any problems when you borrow books, you may ask the librarians for help.

 Library of East Campus

The Library of East Campus is the main library among the three libraries. It is a six-floor building that covers an area of 17,000 square meters and was put into use in early 2013. You can borrow books from rooms on the 2nd to 5th floors. The layout of the library is as follow:

Library of West Campus 

The Library of West Campus was put into use in September 1997 and covers an area of 18,587 square meters. The layout is listed as follow.

USTC has 1 indoor training hall, 1 badminton gymnasium, 2 gymnasiums, 2 playgrounds (football field), 20 basketball courts, 13 volleyball courts, 10 tennis courts, several table tennis rooms and gymnastics rooms. For detailed information please refer to the website of Physical Education Department of USTC (http://www.tj.ustc.edu.cn).

Notes: 

1. Open time may be subject to changes in the overall schedule settings of the university. Notifications will be issued upon changes.

2. Sites will be temporarily closed when classes are in session.

3. The Gym Building, located southwest to the track field on East Campus, includes Fitness Room, Aerobics Room, Art & Sport Room, Boardgame and Poker Room, Ping-Pong Room, and National Traditional Sports Room.

In China, there are three main telecommunication carriers: China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. All three carriers have branches on campus.

1. China Mobile

Location: Building No.312 in East Campus & next to the Dormitory Building No.1 in West Campus

URL: http://www.10086.cn/

Tel: 10086

2. China Unicom

Location: Building No.312 in East Campus & Xinke Building in Huangshan Road (next to the West Campus)

URL: http://www.chinaunicom.com.cn/

Tel: 10010

3. China Telecom

Location: 1st floor of library (opposite Xingzuo canteen) in East Campus &1st floor of the Dormitory Building No.1 in West Campus

URL: http://www.189.cn/

Tel: 10000 (Chinese Only)

The post office, at the 1st floor of Dormitory Building No.230 in East Campus and the student activity center in West Campus, opens from 8:30 to 17:30 every day. The post office provides services for mailing, sending and receiving parcels.

Express Service is popular and convenient in China. You can find various express service providers at USTC, including STO Express, YTO Express, YunDa Express, ZTO Express, and SF Express. You should know the accurate address for delivery before you send or receive the parcels.

If you live on campus, you can write USTC’s address and postcode. If you are living off campus, please ask for the accurate address and postcode from your landlord so as not to cause the loss of packages or letters due to inaccurate addresses.

Ren Min Bi (RMB) is the sole legal tender of China. The unit used for the RMB is Yuan and it has the smaller denominations of Jiao and Fen (1 Yuan = 10 Jiao = 100 Fen).

RMB is issued in both note and coin forms. The paper notes come in the denominations of 100 Yuan, 50 Yuan, 20 Yuan, 10 Yuan, 5 Yuan, 2 Yuan, 1 Yuan, 5 Jiao, 2 Jiao and 1 Jiao; and the denominations for coins are 1 Yuan, 5 Jiao, 1 Jiao, 5 Fen, 2 Fen and 1 Fen.

We strongly recommend you to set up a bank account after you arrive in Hefei, and apply for a related bank card with the identification “UnionPay” on it. The UnionPay card, as a Debit Card, enables you to transfer money from your account directly to the recipient's account and it is commonly used in China. You can use it to pay for tuition fees, medical insurance and shopping in supermarkets, etc.. You can also download bank’s official app after opening an account in the bank to check balance conveniently.

In addition, online payment in China is very developed and convenient. International students can bind their bank cards with Alipay and WeChat to shop online and transfer money. Please be alert to any form of fraud and scam (such as telephone scam, text messages scam, and Internet fraud) to avoid any economic losses.

 · Bank of China, Tel: 95566, Website: http://www.bank-of-china.com/ 

·  Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Tel: 95588, Website: http://www.icbc.com.cn/ 

·  China Construction Bank, Tel: 95533, Website: http://www.ccb.com.cn/

·  Agricultural Bank of China, Tel: 95599, Website: http://www.abchina.com/

·  Bank of Communications, Tel: 95559, Website: http://www.bankcomm.com/

Within USTC campus, riding bicycles and walking are the most common modes of transportation. You can buy your own bicycle, and it's very convenient to use the bike-sharing services. You can ride an electric scooter, but please note that motorcycle is not permitted on campus.

The shuttle buses are also available. The operating hours and the map of shuttle bus stations are as follow.