tl;dr: Bored Aussie wants to get 2 years of radiography experience in Formosa Taiwan after completing a 2 year course in China. Can it be done?
Hi,
I’m an Australian living in Australia. I have been learning Mandarin Chinese for about the past year and a half.
I’m looking at getting a 2 year college diploma in medical imaging from China, and getting 2 years of clinical experience in Taiwan.
Before you ask, “Why don’t you just do a radiography degree in your own country?”
In fact, I am already enrolled in a Bachelor of Medical Radiation Science at an Australian university right now. After graduation of this 4 year program which includes the first PDY as the final year of the degree, as well as an integrated honours program, I would be a fully qualified and registered radiographer. And I didn’t even need a particularly good high school score to get in. It’s a pretty sweet deal.
But it’s all in English, and all in the country I was born and raised in. Frankly, sticking to this country I am comfortable with and a language I have used ever since I learned how to talk is too boring. At this stage of my life, I’ve realised it’s not for me. I want to go and do something a bit different and a little crazy while I’m still young.
I don’t have a degree or even any 2 year qualification yet. To complete a Chinese medium 2 year medical imaging diploma as a white guy who didn’t grow up speaking Chinese would set me apart from the crowd and give me the life experience of learning a different educational system. My wife is Chinese (naturalized Japanese) and not able to live in Australia long-term, so this is also an opportunity to be close to her. Hence my motivation for wanting to try this.
I’m going to China to study Chinese for 6 months at a private school in Yangshuo. Since I’m not a beginner, they did an informal placement test with me and placed me in a program of intensive comprehensive Chinese and HSK training which aims me to get to a comfortable HSK4 level in 6 months. It’s a well-rounded package with lunch and dinner included during the week, and with volunteer work in the school to reduce costs. It’s priced at ¥69,575 RMB for 24 weeks.
Then the plan is to go and get a 2 year vocational qualification in medical imaging from an institution in Chinese medium. I have heard from a Chinese tourist that they deliver such a course at nursing school(s) in China.
Then I could go back to my home country and upgrade my qualification to a Bachelor’s degree with a further year of study, at the same university I’m enrolled in a radiography degree now.
The only hitch is that the conversion degree requires 2 years of clinical experience. I haven’t looked into whether there’s a possibility they might wave that requirement in certain situations to get bums on seats, which in today’s economy is more and more of a priority. But let’s say the accrediting body does not allow that, or the university won’t do it, and I’ll definitely need 2 years of clinical experience to do the conversion degree.
You can’t work in China (legally) without at least a Bachelor’s degree. I’m prepared to do what it takes and work for shitty pay in shitty conditions to get my reference and 2 years of clinical experience. Though I most preferably want to be doing that with genuine working rights.
Hence I’ve turned my eyes onto Taiwan, because there you can get a work permit with a 2 year college diploma/associate’s degree and a TEFL certificate. So I’m wondering if I could get a job in Taiwan as fresh 2 year college diploma graduate from China? Any job, as long as it gave me direct relevant clinical experience in medical imaging for 2 years, working legally.
Is this a realistic avenue to explore or should I look elsewhere? United Arab Emirates perhaps? Again, I’d rather do this in a Chinese-speaking environment.
Would it be possible to secure an internship for 2 years to get experience that way? Surely some clinic or hospital would be happy to take some self-funded person in to work for nothing or almost nothing?
I’m very keen to hear everyone’s feedback and suggestions!
Thanks,
Nicholas
