Hi all! Hope all is well for everyone at the moment.
I recently headed home to get vaccinated and looking to get back into Taiwan, this time as a Bachelor’s student. I’m looking to do a degree in either teaching, communication or English. My Chinese level being A2, the course would also have to be mostly in English. I’ve looked around but the only real English bachelor’s I was able to find was at Taipei Tech, but the website given for the program ( http://www.eng.ntut.edu.tw/ ) doesn’t even work. I’m therefore not even sure if the program even exists. There is also I-Shou Uni in Kaohsiung with an applied English Bachelor’s, but again, the website of the department is super barren.
Does anyone have experience in studying in one of these fields in Taiwan? I really love the place and definitely would prefer studying there instead of Canada.
Just in case it is of interest. There are more options in the sciences taught in english. TThen you learn english and have that qualification plus you get a degree in something probably more lucrative and broad than an english major will (my wife got her ba in english as well, its not all that useful here unless you branch into teaching which is a whole other thing)
Why not take an online program? Unis have come a long way with developing comparable programs that are online now, and it’s becoming more acceptable as almost everyone was online the last 1.5 years anyways. Just stay away from for profit schools and go for accredited non profit unis.
I finished my UG from a US uni that has both an online and on campus program and allows you to do both or switch from one to the other.
Do you mean like English literature or EFL English?
I knew some Philipinos who on exchange here had to take an English class (apparently because they weren’t considered native speakers) and the stories they told me didn’t leave me impressed. Certainly they had a better grasp of the language than the teacher.
If you’re Canadian and your English is already high-level, the only reason to do an English degree is if you want the easiest possible student visa. As other posters have mentioned, more and more degrees are being offered using English but in other subjects. A bachelor’s in education taught here in English might be tough to find, a communications degree might not be particularly useful.
Even a hospitality degree might be more fun, at least you learn to make coffees, cocktails, beds, etc., rather than learning a language you already know from teachers that don’t know it very well. Then you could look into managing hotels or restaurants instead of being an English teacher (of course you can always be an English teacher).
What is your goal beyond getting a student visa to get back into Taiwan?
Yeah, if English is your mother tongue, why would you even want an englsih degree in a non English speaking country……
You don’t even need a degree in that if you want to teach English…
Even comparative literature is a better idea.
I’m not gonna lie, if a native speaker comes here to study English literature, they’re not gonna earn much respect unless you have a really good reason.
No judgements, many of us have been forced to do stupid monkey tricks like this just to be allowed to live our lives like normal people. Its retarded in nature. But it is reality, frustrating as it may be.
If, by chance, you actually care about your peice of paper at the end so you can show people. Strongly recomend spending the same amount of time and a little more effort getting a better degree in something else, in English. Even if you dont use it (like most uni students dont use their degree for their jobs aside from “getting in”), at least you have a face save and respect going forward that people of even the shallowest of mindsets (like those that put weight into a university degree) can comprehend.
Otherwise, just go to a 20 hour week chinese course and get your visa. Same shit, fewer hours…and more useful in practice.