Hi. I’m really keen to do a Ph.D. here in Taiwan (somewhere in or around Taipei). I’d like to extend my own practice and research of music in language learning. Would anyone know/recommend a university which has a strong interdisciplinary course which would perhaps make room for such study? Just curious if there are many others here who have done a Ph.D. in Taiwan. I’m well aware of the pros/cons of doing one in Taiwan. As I expect to be here a while, I think it might be the best option to further myself and career. Cheers in advance!
I would not settle for anything except NTU and hopefully you can connect it with engineering and science somehow, like AI or something.
Are you recommending NTU because of its higher international listing (better if I decide to leave Taiwan and teach elsewhere) or do feel the academic standards are that bad elsewhere in Taiwan? I know some horror stories at the private universities…but curious your thoughts.
Back when I was planning on doing a PhD in linguistics, my lecturers back in London as well as people in Taiwan told me National Chengchi University was the best place to do it, if I really wanted to do it in Taiwan. If your PhD will be about language teaching, it might be worth you looking into. That said, everybody who recommended NCCU also urged me to reconsider doing a PhD in Taiwan.
Thanks, will look into NCCU. Haven’t consider that one at all. I assume the reasoning was the value of a Western Ph.D. degree outweighs a local Taiwan…
Yes. Even the professor of the Taiwan Studies department told me that a PhD in Taiwan is worthless outside of Asia. At that time, I was intent in staying in Asia (if not Taiwan, then China or Japan) so I thought it would still be worth it, but I ended up not taking the PhD road in the end.
NCCU has a very highly regarded linguistics department, particularly in the area of Chinese linguistics.
Minor caveat: if you’ve just finished your PhD, and are looking for a job in academia, then yes, a PhD from Taiwan isn’t going to look as good as most North American or European PhDs. But ten years down the line, your publication record is probably going to matter a lot more than wherever your doctorate came from.
This century is Asia so studying university in Asia is best!
Both. I really don’t know much about music per se but pretty much any field that I had contact with was leaps and bounds better in NTU. You get more interesting professors, better networking opportunities and better funding (this one is not that different really). These are generalizations though, maybe you can find the best professor in a less well-known university but on average NTU is the best IMO.
The international rankings can only help. Just imagine going back and the employer asks you whats this NTU place you got your degree from. You can say its the best school in Taiwan and maybe slip in the ranking somewhere in the conversation.
That’s a good point. I’ll have to consider that if the time comes and I decide to get back into academia.
Great point. Many thanks for your input. Cheers! 
Wouldn´t it be more logical if your field is music to study say at the Taipei National university of the Arts?
http://1www.tnua.edu.tw/en/about/super_pages.php?ID=about3
Yep, they have PhD. programs.
Is your field music or linguistics (language learning)?