Dear All
Just wonder if you guys know how one would go about studying formally at a University here. My Wife is Korean and wishes to do a degree here, is this possible given that there is no HSK standard here??
Each university has their own entrance exam. Some schools/departments only require you to apply (with transcripts, letters of recommendation, health check, etc.), and may also ask for a Chinese aptitude test after tentatively admitting you. Other schools/departments have competitive entrance exams. Go to Google and type in the names of the universities you’re interested in, and they’ll have information for foreign students.
Oh, crud. I heard the most depressing advertisement on the radio the other day (ICRC). Well, it was something to the effect of…
“Wow, Bob, you mean I can go to a Taiwanese university and just take courses in English and get a degree?”
“That’s right, Jane, you can get a degree in Taiwan and not know a word of Chinese or Taiwanese and then go home with your degree and be an idiot.”
“Wow, that sounds great, because I’m really dumb and I don’t want to know Chinese anyway. I just want to get a degree in something, and meet lots of happy Chinese students.”
“Well, Jane, they can’t wait to meet you. Hey, Jane, you suck!”
“You suck, too, Bob!”
If your wife speaks Chinese then she can apply to pretty much whatever program she wants. If she doesn’t speak Chinese then she either needs to work on that to get up to speed or she might consider one of the various international degree programs. Several universities have created these as a means to (1) attract international students as part of the government’s initiative for remaking certain schools into international education hubs (pouring big bucks into strengthening the programs at the same time) and (2) preparing more local students for international business and the like.
National Chengchi University (NCCU, Cheng-da) for instance has an International Business Program for the BA (all four years in English, the vast majority of the students are Chinese wishing to go into international trade - to get into the program you have to be very good though as it’s very difficult to qualify to enter), NCCU also has an international MBA program as well as an MA in Taiwan Studies that is taught in English (part of the government’s diplomacy initiative). Many of the language arts programs are also internationalizing.
Each university is different. Your best bet is to have Chinese language proficiency but if you’re after an international quality degree taught in English you’ll have to do some checking.
Contrary to the previous post and some examples of lame advertising, the international programs are not aimed at folks who suck and can’t get a degree elsewhere or who come to Taiwan to study English without knowing the first thing about Taiwan . . . most of the programs are rigorous and aimed at students who test in the higher percentiles (albeit, there certainly are exceptions).
Tamkang (Danjiang) University also has some English programs, I believe. And as Meiguolangren said, these kinds of programs ARE competitive. There are A LOT of crap schools in Taiwan, and even crappier programs, but at the other end of the spectrum there are some pretty good ones as well.
Right . . . some programs are notoriously awful . . . however, a number of them hold their own when compared with other aggressive programs oveseas . . . of course, the key to a great education is not just the school and the teachers . . . it’s also in the students . . . if you are really interested in learning, then you can do so by pushing yourself and doing more than the minimum . . . if you want to float by, you probably can, even at a good school . . . the trick is to find a program that fits your needs and interests and compliments your learning style . . . don’t just pick a program because it’s a “name” school or because it’s cheap or expensive or whatever . . . look into the core of the program and find out what sort of classes are being offered as well as what sort of papers teachers have been publishing as well as what other non-academic opportunities are available there.
I met an American (Canadian maybe) a while ago who said he was half way through a MA in English literature at a University in Taichung.
Isn’t that a bit weird? What value would there be career-wise, either here or back home, in having an MA in English lit from a Taiwanese Uni if you are a native English speaker?
Sounds like a waste of time to me, unless you are wildly interested in English literature and don’t want to leave the island. Maybe he was just trying to improve his social life.
newbie here… ummh… is it just me or…
your moving logos flashing at the left make it difficult for me to read your valuable opinions. is there a way to “freeze” them?
No, I have to agree about that guys flashing picture. Could you please reconsider it? I find I am getting physically nauseous, and if I spot a post from that guy, I have to quickly scroll past it.
Also, you (sorry, I don’t know your name) are advertising yourself as a "certified hypnotherapist. I think a flashing picture, which I rank right up there with the crudeness of the guy who has a picture of someone pulling their pants down and mooning anyone who might want to read their post. I don’t think it communicates professionalism, and if I wanted/needed to see a hypnotherapist, I would not consider someone with such an obnoxious picture.
I think I’ll turn off my graphics now.
:offtopic: It’s not a “flashing picture” per se, it’s an autostereoscopic animated gif that conveys an artificial semblance of depth by interspersing two views from a stereopair. Congratulations, you are one of the special rare few of about one in every five-hundred-thousand humans who respond physically to autostereoscopic displays . . . assuming that the animated gif with 3D/stereoscopic information is what causes nausea rather than my image. I’ve had more positive comments than negative ones about it (most folks honestly don’t care one way or another).
In future, instead of posting a flame, a polite private message would normally suffice rather than a public post questioning my professionalism simply because I combine my interest in stereoscopic 3D display with my sense of humor. Normally, if someone has a reasonable request I will try to accomodate them . . . especially if the person contacts me directly and politely.
If you find the photo itself obnoxious, I’m sorry. There’s not really much else I can do for you as we simply have a difference of opinion about what is cute and humorous . . . I certainly wasn’t trying to “offend” anyone with my quirky avatar and was definately not trying to make you sick to your stomach.
BTW, if you have problems with autostereoscopic or other stereographic and true 3D display systems, it is possible to condition yourself to a higher tolerance. Some folks are so sensitive that they find even simple virtual perspective systems like 2 1/2 D gaming (what passes for 3D gaming) problematic. Unless you are merely susceptible to simple flashing systems due to epilepsy or other ailments then I don’t know of any specific programs that would be helpful.
Oh, BTW, my name is Brian. Howdy. I don’t know your name though as it’s not in your post.
Does anyone know anything about the MBA programs offered here? I have seen ads for Chiaotung and Chengchi, and am actually considering Chiaotung. Is this even the right place to ask this?
I am seriously considering earning a B.S.Ed or an undergraduate degree (or master’s) in education…are there any programs here in English at a decent university?
I would be interested in information about international programming/electric engineering programs - seeing as how’s that’s a field where Taiwanese expertise is internationally recognized.
ImaniOU – please help me out here – you would want to study the way the Taiwanese educate their young people because…???
Ditto that. Re: my post above about the American who is doing an MA in English lit here. What possible use could that be to anyone?
Why DO people (foreigners) want to get degrees or MAs from a Taiwanese uni?
Caught an ICRT interview with the director of the IMBA prgram at National Chong Ching University while in a taxi yesterday. Program is in English, if I recall correctly.
email: imba@nccu.edu.tw
From my first semester of grad school here at NTU, I’ve found that they tend to go much easier on the foreign students. The length of our term papers is shorter, and although they expect our papers to be written clearly and with correct grammar/usage, etc., they don’t expect the level of writing of our Taiwanese classmates (in terms of rhetorical devices, idioms, etc.). I don’t know if this is fair or not, but I’m certainly not complaining … hehe.
Do you mean an Education BS that is taught in English? Or, an English Education degree?
If you already have one BA/BS then you might not want to roll over for another . . . I would suggest looking into Masters level programs either here or abroad.
There are Linguistics and TEFL programs here and I assume they are pretty much like the Comp. Lit and Lit. programs in that if a “foreigner” is in the class then the instructors will use English - albeit, some don’t so some sort of Chinese fluency is worthwhile - if you’re in an Educationion faculty or other non-language programs then you will have to find an English-specific program or suck it up and either go back from whence you came for your studies or gain the appropriate level of Mandarin fluency that would support graduate studies.
This would also depend upon what your goal are and what you hope to gain from a program. Some folks want to do an international degree here because of the mistaken belief it’s easier . . . nope, that’s a myth . . . others, want to be able to continue to live and work in Taiwan while furthering their education. Why do you want to do a degree here and what do you hope it will do for you?