Chinese Degree Verification for Australia Visa: CHSI, CSSD, and CDGDC Explained

Your ACS skills assessment application is ready to submit. Then you see the requirement: a "CDGDC verification report." You search for it and find three different acronyms — CHSI, CDGDC, CSSD — that all appear to point to the same system. Your university's Academic Affairs Office tells you to use 学信网. The ACS form says CDGDC. Your migration forum says CSSD. You spend three days trying to figure out whether these are the same thing before you have even started the verification itself.

This naming confusion delays more Chinese applicants than any actual document problem. Here is what the terms mean, what you need to obtain, and in what order.

The Naming History: 学信网, CHSI, CDGDC, and CSSD

All four names refer to the same national system for verifying Chinese higher education qualifications. The naming has evolved as the organization restructured:

CHSI (China Higher Education Student Information) was the original name used internationally in the 2000s and early 2010s. Many early Australian assessing body guidance documents still use this term.

CDGDC (China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center) was the name that emerged as the system expanded to cover degree certification specifically. ACS documentation from 2015-2022 often uses CDGDC.

CSSD (Centre for Student Services and Development) is the current official name of the operating organization. This is what you will see in updated ACS, CPA Australia, and VETASSESS guidance.

学信网 (xuexin.chsi.com.cn) is the web platform where you log in and generate the actual reports. Regardless of which acronym the assessing body uses in their requirements document, this is the portal you will use.

When an Australian assessing authority asks for a "CDGDC verification report" or "CSSD verification report," they mean a digital verification document generated through 学信网 that confirms the authenticity of your Chinese qualification.

The Three Documents Australian Assessing Bodies Require

Skills assessment authorities in Australia need to verify three separate items from your Chinese academic record. Each comes from a different source.

学位证书 (Xue Wei Zheng Shu — Degree Certificate)

This confirms the specific academic degree awarded — Bachelor, Master, or Doctoral. It is the primary document establishing your qualification level for the purposes of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) equivalency. Verification of this document is obtained through the CSSD degree certification service, not through the standard 学信网 self-service portal.

毕业证书 (Bi Ye Zheng Shu — Graduation Diploma)

This confirms you completed the program and were formally graduated. In the Chinese system, a student can hold a graduation diploma without a degree certificate — for example, if they completed all coursework but did not pass the thesis requirement. Australian assessing bodies require both documents. The graduation diploma can be verified through the standard 学信网 online verification system, producing a 学历证书电子注册备案表.

成绩单 (Cheng Ji Dan — Academic Transcript)

The course-by-course record of subjects completed, grades received, and credit hours. This document is not available through 学信网 and must be obtained directly from your university's Academic Affairs Office (教务处). For ACS assessments, the transcript is the single most important document — ACS uses it to calculate the proportion of ICT content in your degree, which determines your classification as ICT Major or ICT Minor and sets your year deduction.

The Verification Process, Step by Step

Step 1: Register on 学信网.

Go to xuexin.chsi.com.cn and create an account with your 居民身份证号 (national ID number) and a Chinese mobile phone number. Graduates who studied before approximately 2001 may find their records are not fully digitized. If your name does not appear in the system, you will need to contact the CSSD directly for a manual verification request, which adds two to four weeks.

Step 2: Generate the 学历证书电子注册备案表 (graduation diploma verification report).

This is the self-service pathway on 学信网. Once logged in, locate the verification service, select your institution and graduation year, and generate the report. A PDF with a unique verification code is produced. Many assessing bodies now accept this digital report directly. If the assessing body requires a printed and sealed version, 学信网 offers a physical report mailing service for an additional fee. The digital report generates in one to three business days; the physical mailed version takes seven to fifteen days.

Step 3: Apply for the 学位认证报告 (degree certificate verification report).

This is the step that confuses most applicants. The degree certificate — the document confirming Bachelor, Master, or Doctoral status — is verified through a separate CSSD certification process, not through the standard 学信网 self-service. You apply through the CSSD online system (at cdgdc.edu.cn or the CSSD portal linked from 学信网), pay a fee of approximately ¥200, and wait for CSSD to contact your university directly. This process takes 20 to 25 business days under normal conditions. Universities in major cities respond faster than regional institutions; peak application periods in March-April and September-October slow processing.

Step 4: Request your academic transcript from your university.

Contact your university's Academic Affairs Office (教务处) directly by email or through the alumni services portal if one exists. Most universities issue sealed, stamped transcripts in both Chinese and English, though the English version may cost more and take longer to produce. If your university only provides Chinese-language transcripts, you will need to arrange a NAATI-accredited English translation before submitting to the assessing body — allow an additional five to ten business days for this.

Step 5: Confirm name consistency across all documents.

This is the most common cause of manual review delays. Check that the romanized name on your 学位证书, 毕业证书, and CSSD verification reports matches the name in your passport exactly. Pinyin transliteration conventions varied by era and by institution — a 1990s diploma might use "Xiaohua" where your current passport says "Xiao Hua." If your degree was issued under a previous or maiden name, prepare a notarized name-change statement before submitting your skills assessment application.

Realistic Timeline

Most Chinese applicants underestimate how long this process takes when running all threads in sequence. Run them in parallel from day one.

End-to-end, plan for six to eight weeks from initiation to having all documents ready for the assessing body. If your university is slow to respond to CSSD's authentication request, this can extend to twelve weeks.

The ACS will not begin processing your skills assessment until all required documents are received. Every week of CSSD verification delay is a week your ACS processing is postponed — which in turn pushes back your EOI submission date, your date of effect in SkillSelect, and ultimately your invitation round eligibility.

Non-Standard Qualification Pathways

If your degree was awarded through a non-standard pathway — 自学考试 (self-study examination), 成人高等教育 (adult higher education), or 网络教育 (online distance education) — the 学信网 verification process is the same, but the assessment outcome may differ significantly.

ACS, for example, may assess an adult education bachelor's degree as AQF equivalent to a diploma rather than a full bachelor's degree, depending on the program's structure and entry requirements. This affects your qualification points on the EOI and changes the applicable experience deduction category. VETASSESS applies similar scrutiny to non-standard pathways.

For any non-standard qualification, include a supplementary letter from your university's Academic Affairs Office that explains: the program structure, how many years of full-time equivalent study were required, the admission requirements, and the examination format. This documentation helps the assessing body make a reasonable AQF equivalency determination rather than defaulting to the lower classification.

Start Verification Before Everything Else

CSSD verification is the longest lead-time item in the entire Subclass 189 application process for Chinese applicants. It cannot be rushed once submitted, and the skills assessment body will not start its clock until documents arrive. Start the degree certification application on the same day you decide to pursue the 189 visa — while verification processes, you can simultaneously sit PTE Academic, begin NAATI CCL preparation, and gather employment reference letters.

The China to Australia Skilled 189 Guide covers the full document procurement timeline for Chinese applicants, including the complete CSSD workflow, how to handle name inconsistencies, the additional steps required for non-standard qualifications, and how to sequence the verification process so no single document creates a bottleneck in your application.

See more Australia guides →