I’m currently enrolled in a 4-year Bachelor’s program in the US - the school is private, non-profit, regionally accredited, has an actual campus (not online-only), and it’s on the list of approved/recognized schools (this: http://www.fsedu.moe.gov.tw/home.aspx). However, I’m taking all of my classes online. Will this be an issue in trying to get a job teaching English in Taiwan after graduating? I’ve seen a fair bit of stuff on here about “online degrees” or “distance learning” basically being useless as far as Taiwan is concerned. Even if the school is on their approved schools list, does your primary way of learning to get the degree impact things? I’m just looking for someone to help shed some light on this. Are there any official pages by the Taiwanese gov that would help clarify?
We need someone like yyy to chip in, but I think you’re OK. The Taiwanese Ministry of Education look for a certain number of hours taught on campus. Not entirely sure how many, bit if your passport says been in the country where the degree was obtained I don’t foresee any problem.
Unless your certificate states online degree, I believe you’re ok.
Do they really go so far as to check your passport stamps over the time you spent enrolled? I actually started this program to give myself the freedom to do my classes while traveling, haha. As far as I’m aware, the certificate I’ll receive is the same one that entirely on-campus students receive, but I’m not too sure about what an official transcript would say. Oh, and if it wasn’t clear already, I’m from the US.
I’m not in possession of all the facts. However, I believe the MOE looks at your passport to see how long you were in the country where you took the degree. In your case this won’t be an issue.
To paraphrase Enoch Powell: Complaining about immigration requirements is like a sailor complaining about the sea. It’s not going to change and you just have to learn how to navigate it.
Sure, but it would certainly help to have enough foresight to build a better boat before going out on any water, lol. If the requirement for on-campus time isn’t something crazy, I’d consider just sticking out the last of the time needed to get the degree in the US on-campus just to feel safe, but I still haven’t found where I should be looking to find the specifics on this regulation. Are you saying you don’t think it would be an issue because they’d just see that the countries match up?
Either way, I’ve left a message at my uni over the weekend asking about what an official transcript would include in regards to this, so hopefully I’ve just been worrying about nothing and I’d be able to slide through with it just omitting the distance learning part.
As I said earlier, unless your degree states something like “online degree” and you haven’t left your country then how could they know? I suppose they could contact your university, but it seems highly unlikely.
The regulations say online classes should not be more that half of all the credits. If your certificate and transcript say nothing on online cource/distance learning, it will be no problem, though.
Regulations Regarding the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Academic Credentials for Institutions of Higher Education
大學辦理國外學歷採認辦法
Article 10
With regard to the courses set forth in Article 8, Subparagraph 2, if the degree conferred by a foreign college or higher is obtained through courses carried out via distance learning programs, the courses shall be taken with a school that is in compliance with Article 8, Subparagraph 1 hereof or with a domestic university under an international academic collaboration program; provided that, the amount of credits taken shall comply with relevant domestic regulations governing distance learning programs.
Implementation Regulations Regarding Distance Learning by Universities
專科以上學校遠距教學實施辦法
Article 3
The distance learning referred to in these Regulations shall mean the interaction between teachers and students by means of telecommunication networks, computer networks, video channels and other media.
The distance learning courses referred to in these Regulations shall mean subjects in which above 1/2 of the teaching hours for each subject are carried out by means of distance learning.
國外遠距教學學歷採認 （2016-07-28）
https://ace.moe.edu.tw/question/view/?id=579968601fca4
依「專科以上學校遠距教學實施辦法」規定，學生學位之取得，其修習遠距教學學分數不得超過畢業總學分數之二分之一 (第6條)。
As I said earlier, @BiggusDickus, I’m doing this program so that I can travel - outside of the country. I was concerned about my passport showing that during the time of my enrollment, they would see that I wasn’t in the US. Ideally they would only see the time (if any) I spent in Taiwan, which wouldn’t be 2+ years.
And @tando thank you very much! That was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. It turns out in addition to the certificate being the same as campus students, there’s no indication of the classes being completed online in the transcript, so I should be fine.
I apologise. I wasn’t being snarky, just didn’t notice that you would be outside your country during your studies.