There is no way only 15 universities in the US is accepted in Taiwan. If that is the list you are pointing to. Can you post the link directly so I know I am seeing what you’re seeing. There are obviously many more prestigious and popular schools in the US. I find that hard to believe only of that list of 15 matters. Who knows Chinese names of English universities?
I’m not sure the lists I linked to back in June are the right ones. For one thing, I don’t know Chinese, but even if I did, I might not be sure that the lists I linked to back in June were the right lists.
Bearing the above in mind, here’s a list of links to American colleges and universities by state:
educationusa.tw/dispPageBox/ … =USTUDYAHD
From that same website, here’s the list for California:
educationusa.tw/dispPageBox/ … th=2&sub=N
Again, I’m not sure whether anything I’ve linked to in this post contains the list or lists that people are referring to when they say that one’s college or university must be on a list of approved schools.
So basically these are lists of schools? My school is on the first link you sent, but this just looks like a list of schools.
Is there an actual list that the Taiwnese gov’t has that your school is required to be on this list or you are not allowed to get a visa, or is this incorrect information? If such a list actually exists and this is how the Gov’t operates, how wold I find this list, so I don’t move to Taiwan for nothing.
I haven’t read the entire thread, but no one ever asks about my BA because I give them the MA. Unless you’re looking for licensed teaching work, (which you can’t get without a teaching license), then the MA will not likely get you any higer pay. It MAY, but more than likely will not. There are too many teachers here for that to make a difference to anyone looking for cram school teachers.
Good luck to you.
[quote=“Acujer”]So basically these are lists of schools? My school is on the first link you sent, but this just looks like a list of schools.
Is there an actual list that the Taiwnese gov’t has that your school is required to be on this list or you are not allowed to get a visa, or is this incorrect information? If such a list actually exists and this is how the Gov’t operates, how wold I find this list, so I don’t move to Taiwan for nothing.[/quote]
I don’t know. Here’s the process by which I got the URLs for those webpages:
In October of 2007, ScottSommers posted a link to a list.
Here’s the ScottSommers post I quoted above:
[Forumosa - Taiwan's largest and most active Taiwan-oriented global online community in English … 23#p792823](Distance learning degrees - #8 by ScottSommers
Here’s the link ScottSommers posted, now dead as far as I can tell:
edu.tw/EDU_WEB/EDU_MGT/BICER … ca/ca3.htm
A copy of the apparently-dead page can be accessed via the WayBack Machine of the Internet Archive:
web.archive.org/web/200803151108 … ca/ca3.htm
I copied some language from the above-linked Internet Archive page and pasted into Google. That yielded the webpages that I linked to.
But again, I don’t know if the pages I linked to contain the official list(s) of schools that foreigners must be graduates of in order to get work permits to teach English here. In fact, I’m not a hundred percent certain that such a list or lists exist.
Houscat, thank you! That is the answer I was looking for. So for when you got your initial work visa to teach English, you ONLOY showed them your MA and noone asked about the BA?
CharlieJack, thank you! It is very hard for me to believe the MOE has this special list of schools that one must be on to get a work visa. I would think if they had a list, it would basically show it was an accredited university, which would be a very basic list which any decent university would be on.
So I guess the real questions is what is the process that is involved in issuing out a work visa? Do they look make phone calls to the school? So they go on the computer and google it? Do they have an official list and then see if you’re school is on the list?
I wonder if anyone knows!
so far I am feeling pretty good about coming to Taiwan to join all of you. I hope it’s a bit less stressful from the Mainland circus.
Is it best to line up a job first or just go there?
Cheers!
The Ministry of Education does have a list of accredited universities which it checks against when the cram school manager sends a copy of the teacher’s degree certificate when applying for a work visa. My guess is that they don’t make the list publicly available for diplomatic reasons and/or they couldn’t give a toss about making life easier for foreign cram school teachers. The onus is therefore on the teacher to check that his university is MOE accredited before coming to Taiwan.
I stongly advise you to contact the MOE directly to check that your university is accepted before coming to Taiwan.
Thats good advice. I will just contact MOE directly. I’ll let you know what happens. My guess is this is not going to be as simple as it sounds with a simple yes or no answer.
I still have no clear answer as expected.
Yeah, it’s pretty frustrating dealing with stuff over here. You have to be politely peristent.
Did you finally come over here in 2007? I was searching for threads to help you and found the thread you ran back then on the same subject. I assume that you couldn’t get the answer you want back then, either.
My gut feeling is that you are going to run into problems getting a work permit. There are just too many possible questions that might raise eyebrows at the MOE. On the other hand, different schools have different levels of guanxi - so who knows?
In 2007 I got so frustrated at not finding an answer I just went back to the Mainland to work. There should be a way. I mean, there is always a way. I just need someone who can show me the way. Since I have spent so much time in the MAinland, I was able to navigate their system so easily. Taiwan has a different game. Is there any way to get all the work visa situation handled before arriving in Taiwan? That would make it all much easier.
Can’t a school say, “Send us your Masters Degrees”. Then send it in to whoever it needs to go to. They approve me, send me the work visa stuff, then I’m good for a year?
If I were you and I really wanted to teach in Taiwan I would go back to uni for a year and complete my bachelor’s. However, I know from your 2007 posts that you don’t want to do that.
You’d need to have a contact in a Taiwanese buxiban if you want one to process your work permit application without you being here. Obviously it’s a big favour and you’d need some kind of relationship/reason to make it worth their while. The standard practice here is teachers come from abroad and then the work permit process starts (after they have secured a job). This usually means that teachers are working illegally for a short period before the work permit is approved. That’s the way it is.
Your only other option is to just fly here, secure a job and then see whether the MOE approves your work permit application. As I said earlier, my gut feeling is that you will get rejected. However, I don’t know which institution you obtained your master’s from and I haven’t been able to find any list of MOE approved universities - so I could be wrong. Ironlady’s post on your 2007 thread suggested that the TECO in each country contacts the institution.
To be honest, you really should know whether or not the institution you obtained your master’s from is going to be taken seriously.
My uni is definitely 100% taken very seriously here in the US. The point is what kind of list the Taiwanese gov’t uses.
I’ve never even heard of a university that offers classes, much less so-called degrees in voodoo and witchcraft. The only people who would take it seriously are those looking to hire witch doctors or whatever. Sorry, that’s not a real degree. And I doubt your “university” is a real school. You probably share those doubts, and that’s why you’re worried.
Where I live acupuncture is taken very seriously and they work out of serious clinics and hospitals including Kaiser and Cedars Sinai. Acupuncturists are considered primary healthcare providers and most insurance companies cover it, including Worker’s Compensation from job related injuries. In addition, in California it is very common for people to got to acupuncturists for a variety of health reasons. Yes, it is a serious medicine, and the gov’t of many states in the US, consider it so. This has nothing to do with witchcraft or voodoo and you should take your insults elsewhere. To point out the height of your ignorance, many medical schools even offer courses to MDs and some MDs in the US have taken acupuncture courses on their own to add to their procedures. Furthermore, the school I attended is a fully recognized accredited Master’s Degree program. My concern was that I did not have a Bachelor’s Degree, not whether or not my field of study is legit.
I believe this is the Taiwan official list and my school is on it. educationusa.tw/dispPageBox/ … th=2&sub=N
Further demonstrating your ignorance.
I am waiting verification from MOE.
I think this is the main site for the official list for other people wanting to know.
So, you haven’t been to Taiwan before?
If that’s the case then you ought to know that teaching in Taiwan really isn’t that great anymore. You’re entering a contracting market (whereas in China it’s a booming market). Pretty much the only guys who are still coining a decent wedge are those with open work permits (APRC/JFRV - those who have done their time here or are married to a local). Should you manage to get a work permit it will be tied to one school with the possibility of working part time at up to two other schools. However, your main employer will not want you working for local competitors. It really isn’t a good gig over here at the moment. If I were young and single I would definitely choose China as a better bet for a future EFL career.
In Taiwan you are probably going to end up with some crappy 65k a month gig - at best. Certified teachers are getting recruited at that rate now - seriously! Lots of westerners are working 6 or 7 day weeks and having to work illegally at multiple schools because the hours simply aren’t there. There are very few of us who are still having it relatively easy - and those who are appear smug but are secretly crapping themselves that their nice little number is going to dry up. It’s certainly not a country I would bust a nut trying to get into, as you are having to do, when there is a 1.3 billion market just across the strait.
Just telling it as it is.
[quote=“Acujer”]I think this is the main site for the official list for other people wanting to know.
educationusa.tw/dispPageBox/ … =USTUDYAHD[/quote]
From looking at this page, it seems that it is just a list of US universities compiled by Fulbright - basically a portal for Taiwanese students interested in studying in the US. I wouldn’t think that this represents a TW government list of approved schools. The Australian government’s IDP has a similar list of Australian universities at:
taiwan.idp.com/%E6%BE%B3%E6% … A1%A8.aspx
just my 
Tom I really appreciate your advice. I would love to hear more.
I have NEVER been to Taiwan an dI have kept wanting to live there for years, but always end up back in China. I have this vision that Taiwan is China without the uncivilized insanity, and much prettier scenery. I don’t know the cost of living there. Is 65,000 a month considered bad? One school in Tao Yuan actually quoted me that exact figure. I had nothign to reference it on, so I didn’t know if it was good or bad. Are there smaller cities that the pay outweighs cost of living since it’s cheaper? Can you tell me more?
Besides the job market, how is life in Taiwan for expats at the moment?
I don’t really have much more to add other than I wouldn’t advise anyone to come here.
The country is nice. The people and the food are nice. The climate isn’t ideal, but it’s bearable. The main problem is there isn’t enough teaching work in the nice areas. The teaching jobs that are available don’t seem to pay enough money for people to save on, which kind of makes working here a bit pointless. Read the thread “Current lack of jobs” for the opinions of others.