I have a marriage ARC, and I work online. I make decent money but I never went to university. I graduated high school in the UK with bad grades, and did a one year UK college course (where i got top marks). I would like to get a bachelor’s degree in my free time but not sure if any Taiwan uni would accept me. My education ended when I was only 17. If it makes a difference my Chinese is pretty good. How strict are the entry requirements for foreigners? I don’t care about going to a good uni, I don’t even care if its the worst in Taiwan. I would however like to do a course in English. I’m still in my twenties so I don’t feel like it is too late.
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Have you considered doing an online program from the UK or US?
I have considered it, but from what I’ve seen, they aren’t always accepted or respected in Taiwan. It also totally doesn’t suit my learning style. I wouldn’t be motivated to study, I’m already that way sometimes with my work. Additionally, since I already work from home, I would quite like to be with other people for a change.
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I finished up my undergrad with an online program. Most schools have an online program now for people that work and can’t move to a campus full time. They usually don’t say online. The only way someone would know is if you tell them it’s an online program or they look up each class you took on the transcript to see it’s listed as an online course.
You just need to go to a non profit accredited school. My uni is a real brick and mortar school, but they have a online program for adults. This is a big market, and everyone in the world is doing online right now for the most part, so who can say it’s not respected at the end. It’s the way forward for education.
University of London, right?
Do they have strict entry requirements?
I did not go to Uni of London. I did my undergrad at an US school. I’m doing my masters now at top 5 finance program, so online programs are not looked down so much anymore or else I would have no chance getting into a good masters program.
Look around, I don’t know the requirements for you since you did HS in the UK. Many online programs don’t have strict requirements for entry. Thet understand their students are mostly adults that haven’t been in academia in a long time. They take into account your work history more on how they judge you.
And to be honest with you, schools now need money. I was reading that schools have lost a lot of money recently due to the virus and people realizing school is not for everyone. Best of luck!
Yea, Department of Geological Science at UT Austin basically laid off everyone who isn’t tenured. At least according to a staff I know. They said they were in trouble financially.
Do you have your High School diploma here?
International applicants with a high school diploma are eligible to apply for undergraduate programs
You can check more information in the following links :
Study in Taiwan , How to Apply
Regulations Regarding International Students Undertaking Studies in Taiwan
International Student Status Eligibility Check , National Taiwan University
Eligibility Check, National Chengchi University
Learn Chinese in Taiwan
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In the UK we don’t have one high school graduation certificate, we have multiple certificates for each GCSE we complete. I don’t have these but could probably get them. Easier to get, and probably more useful would be my 1 year college diploma, where I got top marks. It is a BTEC level 3 certificate, which they have probably never seen before in Taiwan. Is professional experience taken into consideration? I used to work for the UK government in the same field as my college diploma.
Professional experience is only taken into consideration for Master’s degree or other kind of certification
but for Undergraduate degree you will only need the high school diploma , certificate and also the transcripts
Source:
2021/2022 Admission Guidelines for International Degree Students , NTU
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I’m much same as you other than a lot older, I went enrol for Mandarin learning at NTU college and they said I needed my college diploma? I’m from UK what’s a college diploma?
When I return to UK I shall sort all this stuff out and try again.
I need to be in a classroom, learning anything on my own is impossible, I just drift and go do something else.
I started going to library twice a week to teach myself, just ended up sleeping like all the other students.
OP, I’m 99% sure you can get into a Taiwanese university, possibly a pretty decent one. As you may know Taiwan accredited a number of universities a while back and then with the declining birth rate there are not enough students. Chydals links are helpful and include some of the major universities.
Logistically, I believe you’ll need at least your one year degree notarized by the UK TECO office and that may help you get credit and/or admission. It’s also worth seeing whether you could transfer that year towards a degree. Would a UK university let you transfer in a year and do a “study abroad year” in Taiwan? That might get you halfway to your degree easily.
Here are some questions to help in your discernment:
What do you want to study?
What universities are nearby?
Is your goal more enrichment and life learning or are you looking for a concrete set of skills?
What English programs are available and what accommodations are available for non-native speakers if you’re in a Chinese program?
Do you like a bigger school or a smaller school?
Would the school transfer in your prior year of work?
Is there a standardized test you could take that would help with admission, and when are admission tests if you need to take one?
In Taiwan, it also helps to have an intermediary or to show up in person. Just showing up in person will at least give you a sense of how welcoming/terrified the school is about having you as a student. Also, I have heard there are programs where they value native speakers. For instance, translation programs sometimes like to have both English and Chinese native speakers. Hope this helps!