Scholarship for PhD students - Only doing research in Taiwan

Hi,

I am in Taiwan to do research for studying on a PhD-program in my home country. Because I am already in Taiwan (I studied Chinese in Taiwan for one year some time), I can’t apply for the Taiwan scholarship provided by the Ministry of Education (MOE), because the application has to be made at the ROC oversear mission in the country of the applicant’s citizenship. I am now in Taiwan, already doing th research, but would be very helpful to get this kind of scholarship. If this is not possible to be in Taiwan or frequently travel back to my home country (Germany) are there other scholarships in Taiwan?

I know as student of Chinese there are some scholarships for studying Chinese. I am not enrolled at a university in Taiwan. I only being associated to a professor here in Taiwan. At the website of the MOE they suggest if you are a student in Taiwan then apply for scholarships at your (!) university in Taiwan.

Maybe I can attend university as a PhD-student, but then I have probably pay tuition…

What kind of opportunities do I have, e.g. other scholarships or just doing part time work and hope to finish the thesis within a reasonable amount of time?

If you want to attend a university here as a Ph.D. student, you’ll not only have to pay tuition, but you’ll have to take an entrance exam as well.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you won’t be able to get a scholarship while you’re here, unless your university back home offers some form of grant. You might want to check with them.

Some key points must be very clear. Who awards the degree? You write [quote]PhD-program in my home country[/quote].
That should imply that you don’t need to take the entrance exam as you are rather just doing a visiting exchange year so to speak.

I don’t think your residency here is a problem. It should be enough to just have it sent by regular mail in your homecountry. Your citizenship is that matters. Again, they might only award grants to those who are to take a Taiwanese degree though. It should be clear from the exact wording on the application papers. I’d guess it’s similar to the one offered by the Swedish “embassy”.

Also as this seems to be only a part of your PhD I assume there is some contact between your home institution and where you intend to go. If not you’d better start soon with building that contact, cause the application papers need a person to vouch for you. Basically, your supervisor needs to be already appointed, as opposed to just “generally” be accepted to a PhD program.

Lastly, since you are already here I take it you know the difficulties of work permits in general so I wouldn’t count on being able to support yourself meanwhile by part time work. In fact I will need to look up the rules about doing (legal) part time work here while being a PhD student unless someone can enlighten me.

Sometimes universities have tuition waiving agreements. Just check with your home-uni.

Not very clear answers, but not very clear questions neither :stuck_out_tongue:
Summary:
Who awards the degree? Where are you enrolled now? Do you have a household registration in your homecountry? Is your “associated” professor willing to sign the application papers for you? Does your homeuni have an agreement with the uni of your associated professor?

Sounds like your best bet for money would be the normal “breathing and achieving” foreigner studying Mandarin thing…but that would require doing Mandarin studies at a recognized center. I’m not aware of any other money available unless you’re doing your MA or Ph.D. at a Taiwanese university (although I could be wrong, of course).

Have you visited or contacted the local Taiwanese non-embassy in your home country? Or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? They might know something useful.

Usually for these language scholarships you need to be enrolled at the language center for at least one semester. (usually you are able to apply for the scholarship in the second semester - perhaps the third - depending how often they dish out the scholarship)

The schoalrship depends on a test of your Chinese language skills, and things like attendance record, attitude, and usually you need to have an average of 85%+ to be able to apply.

So this requires a minimum of 10 hours a week of Chinese lessons, plus your homework time.

The amount of money from the scholarship vairies. Usually it will cover the tuition fee and may leave you an extra $5-10,000 NT per month. (if you’re lucky)

For this you would need to commit to another 10 hour a week of study at the language center.

It may vary a little from place to place, but that’s roughly it.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Ironlady. There is a great deal of money available in Taiwan for scholars doing work on Taiwan- and China-related topics, but these programs are set up to build connections between scholarship in Taiwan/ROC and institutions overseas; not much support is available for wandering scholars. The reality of the situation is that most people in your position have to find a part-time job.

Although you might not fully fit the rules for the Taiwan scholarship lined out on the MOE website, I’d advise you to contact the Taiwanese Rep office in Germany anyway. I am not a new student either, in 3rd year of my Master’s degree here, but got the Taiwan scholarship anyway. Alll will depend on the number of candidates applying. If they do not find enough candidates, they might give you a scholarship although you do not fit the criteria. That’s at least what they do in the Belgian office. My former Belgian uni supported my application, although I do not longer study there, so you might want to contact your home uni to see if you can send your application through them. Good luck!