I have reached a roadblock on my journey to teach in Taiwan and would like to know if this the end of the road for me. Places like HESS and KojenJobs have told me my university is not on their list of recognized universities. It is Pearson Institute (Formerly known as Midrand Graduate Institute). If this is anything to go on.
Would I still be able to find a job? is there a way around this? any one else had this problem?
God’s sake man, tell us the name of the uni.
Apologies. It is Pearson Institute in Cape Town South Africa. They are accredited by the South African government. @the_bear
Yeah not sure about that. Hopefully there are some saffers on the board with some insight. Anyone know about how this list works?
Worst case scenario you can always work illegally in kindergartens here (not ideal I know) and pursue a teaching license in somewhere like Thailand at a later date.
Hi Jonathanandjordyn,
Well, it’s kind of a long story.
The applicable rule seems to be Article 42.1.2 of “Qualifications and Criteria Standards for foreigners undertaking the jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act.” The English translation of that rule says simply “Be graduated from colleges or above,” where “colleges” probably means something like junior colleges. It adds that graduates of junior colleges need “qualification certificates for language teaching if they have not obtained bachelor’s degrees.”
One English version is here:
http://law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?PCode=N0090031
One Chinese version is here:
However, the Workforce Development Agency seems to say that the Ministry of Education determines which foreign institutions of higher learning are acceptable (so far, I haven’t been able to find this FAQ in English):
The Ministry of Education has a Reference List–which is something like a “list of lists”–of foreign institutions of higher learning, with a search function located at this page:
http://www.fsedu.moe.gov.tw/home.aspx
One of the tabs on that page leads to a world map, and you can click South Africa on that map, and then click the white rectangular button that says “查詢” (“inquire”), and it should give you the Ministry of Education’s list of South African institutions of higher learning.
Another way to get that list is to use the other tab, and for the dropdown menu that’s labeled “洲別” (“continent”), choose “非洲地區” (“Africa Region”), and for the dropdown menu to the right of it that’s labeled “國別” (“country”), choose “南非” (“South Africa”), and then click the white rectangular box that says “查詢” (“inquire”). Again, that should give you the Ministry of Education’s list of South African institutions of higher learning.
I don’t see Pearson Institute on that list. However, I agree that it seems that Pearson Institute is accredited in South Africa.
The website of South Africa’s Council on Higher Education says:
To verify whether the institution or programme is registered and accredited consult the Register of Private Higher Education Institutions at: http://www.dhet.gov.za/
The above instructions are located here:
http://www.che.ac.za/content/where-do-i-find-list-accredited-private-higher-education-institutions
At the website that the instructions refer you to, you can find Pearson Institute on these two lists:
“REGISTER OF PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS”
http://cach.dhet.gov.za/files/RegisterOfPrivateHigherEducationInstitutions.pdf
and
“REGISTER OF PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
LAST UPDATE 22 MARCH 2017”
I wonder if there’s a way to get in touch with either Taiwan’s Ministry of Education or the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa (http://www.taiwanembassy.org/za_en/index.html), or whoever it is that needs to be gotten in touch with, and see if you can get some documentation that would satisfy the requirements of the Ministry of Education, or whoever it is that needs to be satisfied.
I hope this helps, or at least does no harm, and I wish you the best of luck in your efforts to make a living.
Thank you so much for all of this. This really helps and makes the whole issue seem far less daunting, and the reality of moving there all the more reachable. I have checked all the links and am going to approach the Cape Town, SA Taiwanese Liason Office next week and then begin the applying process again.
Regards,
Jonathan and Jordyn
You’re welcome!
I’m still hoping that somebody will show up and add some more information, but it sounds like you’ve got the right idea–to contact people and get information, feedback, and guidance from them.
I hope you’re successful!
–Charlie
The MOE has a contact form on its website.
http://email.moe.gov.tw/EDU_WEB/sendmail/send.php
The English site just has phone numbers, apparently.
http://english.moe.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=13853&CtNode=11407&mp=1
Thanks, yyy.
Also, I wonder if the May 2013 thread linked below can be helpful in any way:
Thank you @Charlie_Jack and @yyy .
I just thought that I would update this thread so that it could potentially be of use to others who may be struggling with this issue. So I have been in contact with a potential employer in Taipei, who spoke directly with someone from the bureau of Education there.
What came out of this conversation was that you can be assured that your degree will be recognised if you have it certified/authenticated by the Taiwan embassy/liaison office in your own country. So I had to go to the Taiwan Liaison Office here in South Africa. They stamped it and certified its authenticity and now I am on my way to finding employment.
Great update for others in the future.
You’ve jumped through the first of MANY hurdles that Taiwan’s government will throw at you for various situations.
Good luck and have you decided on where to live?
Lots of threads on that topic
Does the Taiwan government recognised degrees awarded by Chinese universities? How would that process go? Say if I got a degree in Chinese as a Second Language from Xiamen University and wanted to teach English in Taiwan.
I am not sure how this would work as I have very little knowledge on this topic (aside from what has been discussed on this thread). These are a few factors I have realised are important to landing an English teaching job;
You University/Institution/College must be on the Taiwan List of Recognized Universities (http://www.fsedu.moe.gov.tw/home.aspx). If your university is not on the list, you will need to approach your nearest Taiwan Liaison Office to find out what documents you may need to authenticate the degree.
You need to have attended classes for your degree. e-learning or distance learning degrees make the process a whole lot more complicated.
Do you have any TEFL/TESOL certification? almost every place I applied to required this for English teaching.
Hope this is helpful. I’m sure others will be able to provide you with more concrete answers.
How did you get on? I am moving back to Taiwan in March next year and I’m just starting the process of getting my diploma legalised/authenticated here in the UK.
I had a similar problem. But I am getting different answers. The employer doubts that my degree can be recognized as it is not on the list. The tecro office says once my degree is authenticated then it is recognized by the Moe. Anyone has had any similar experience?
Anyone know where this link has moved to? It’s dead, as is the subdomain.
Taiwanese government agencies must change links every 6 months, web addresses every year, and full names once every 5 years minimum.
They seem to be hosted here now in pdf form, not sure if there’s another resource.
Right? Extremely frustrating. I can only assume updating their websites is busy work/job justification for someone, so a total rehaul is done to prove they actually did something.
is there an official justification?
I hope you understood I was being facetious, although it really seems that way. Things do change a lot! I suspect the only justification is something like what @Steve4nLanguage language says above.