Study in Taiwan, or study elsewhere?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

Mod: I am not sure if “living in Taiwan” is appropriate for this, so if not please move it.

I am wondering since I am a ROC citizen, would it be better for me to study in Taiwan and complete a BS in preparation for a masters degree, or is it better to do it elsewhere? My main issue is lack of understanding for the Taiwan academic structure (and that my Chinese is not at the level of most Taiwanese high school graduates) and that I will be expected to, therefore I have to take the same test that locals have to take and I wouldn’t be able to apply as an international student. How are degrees from universities other than NTU viewed? Or can I just tell them that I grew up and was educated in the US and therefore wish to apply as an international student?

Am I better off going to another country like Europe to study in terms of better respect for degrees earned?

2

‘another country like Europe’??? :astonished: Well, why not? I once heard someone class Africa as a country, so why not Europe as well? After all, it’s smaller…

Anyway, …

The real question is, what do YOU want to do? You’ll do your best at whatever makes you happiest and, at the end of the day, a good degree from any passable university is going to be worth plenty anywhere. It’s about what you bring to it and what you get from it, not about what uni it came from. Yeah, sure, there are some folk who will judge you on where you went to college, but do you really want to give so much of your valuable time and energy to pleasing such superficial, and thankfully rare people??

Find a programme that really gets you thinking, ‘YES! I want to do that’ :discodance: in a place you like the look of living and with a projected cost that you can afford and take it from there. Sure, everyone admires Oxbridge, Ivy League, NTU and Todai etc, but the real world is full of people who went to ordinary schools. :laughing:

Oh and as for the ‘can I apply as this and that’, the best people to tell you are the university admissions staff themselves. Contact them with your queries and get the most up-to-date and relevant information. The vast majority of people here will have NO idea about how NTU feels about admitting students who went to high school in the States.

3

I would second that, and point out that the only reliable way to do this is to physically march in there and scruff them personally. The university websites are typically crippled by examples of usability ‘worst practice’, written only occasionally in English, often out of date, and replete with broken links. Meanwhile, university admin staff are excellent at not answering email.

4

Just another point on the ‘which uni is best regarded’ business. I’ve just been reading the BBC’s latest education news on their website and, in the UK at least, employers looking for graduates are interested in the following:

At least a 2.i degree classification (ie an overall B grade): 77%
A specified subject: 32%
Specified competencies/skills: 62%
Relevant work experience: 33%

Bottom of the list with only 7% interest is ‘Graduates from certain universities’. Is it worth tying yourself in knots to please only a possible 7% of employers who may want ‘top university’ graduates?

5

Well, actually I already have a University of Phoenix BS degree… however I want to study Geology as a master’s and that means I will actually have to get a second BS degree in order to get the masters. Some people have a rather poor opinion of UOP degrees from what I have noticed… my sister has a similar degree but she didn’t have trouble getting jobs (but then again Taiwanese employers don’t seem to care).

In any case I just wonder is it better to simply use my bachelor’s and apply for a master’s somewhere in Geology and hope for the best?

6

[quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”]Mod: I am not sure if “living in Taiwan” is appropriate for this, so if not please move it.

I am wondering since I am a ROC citizen, would it be better for me to study in Taiwan and complete a BS in preparation for a masters degree, or is it better to do it elsewhere? My main issue is lack of understanding for the Taiwan academic structure (and that my Chinese is not at the level of most Taiwanese high school graduates) and that I will be expected to, therefore I have to take the same test that locals have to take and I wouldn’t be able to apply as an international student. How are degrees from universities other than NTU viewed? Or can I just tell them that I grew up and was educated in the US and therefore wish to apply as an international student?

Am I better off going to another country like Europe to study in terms of better respect for degrees earned?[/quote]

My :2cents:

If you want to stay in Taiwan:

It is very important for you to consider how a degree from abroad will be received here, i.e. meaning what would be the procedure to have it legalized/convelidated/legally accepted in Taiwan. Ex. if yoiur degree is in law, what kind of tests, aside from teh normnal bar, would you have to take? Will your academic background abroad prepare you for the bar exam here?

If you go the other route, finishing your B.A. here, then having further studies abroad, from my experience with foreign friends her married to taiwanese who have kids and send them over to study in this order, is that, thanks to added languaghe expertise, multinationals receive them enthusiastically and get better salary.

Better find a way to get yourself an Overseas Chinese ID. It is the only way to get special courses and leniency in the grades department because of limited language ability. Yes, ther are such things for Taiwanese tongpao.

Now, the other option, as mentioned, is to simply move abroad, finish studies abroad. Then stay abroad, me thinks.

7

[quote=“Icon”][quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”]Mod: I am not sure if “living in Taiwan” is appropriate for this, so if not please move it.

I am wondering since I am a ROC citizen, would it be better for me to study in Taiwan and complete a BS in preparation for a masters degree, or is it better to do it elsewhere? My main issue is lack of understanding for the Taiwan academic structure (and that my Chinese is not at the level of most Taiwanese high school graduates) and that I will be expected to, therefore I have to take the same test that locals have to take and I wouldn’t be able to apply as an international student. How are degrees from universities other than NTU viewed? Or can I just tell them that I grew up and was educated in the US and therefore wish to apply as an international student?

Am I better off going to another country like Europe to study in terms of better respect for degrees earned?[/quote]

My :2cents:

If you want to stay in Taiwan:

It is very important for you to consider how a degree from abroad will be received here, i.e. meaning what would be the procedure to have it legalized/convelidated/legally accepted in Taiwan. Ex. if yoiur degree is in law, what kind of tests, aside from teh normnal bar, would you have to take? Will your academic background abroad prepare you for the bar exam here?

If you go the other route, finishing your B.A. here, then having further studies abroad, from my experience with foreign friends her married to taiwanese who have kids and send them over to study in this order, is that, thanks to added languaghe expertise, multinationals receive them enthusiastically and get better salary.

Better find a way to get yourself an Overseas Chinese ID. It is the only way to get special courses and leniency in the grades department because of limited language ability. Yes, ther are such things for Taiwanese tongpao.

Now, the other option, as mentioned, is to simply move abroad, finish studies abroad. Then stay abroad, me thinks.[/quote]

Yea, that’s the problem… usually an overseas Chinese have nationality in a third country… and I can’t get that so I am just a normal ROC citizen… unless I cause some ruckus over this and demand some kind of overseas chinese recognition.

8

Request, request… :wink:

AFAIK, there was a special category for Taiwan tongpao. And then you wight have to recruit some guanxi -any friends in the Legislative Yuan/local lizhang, perhaps?

When there is a will, there is a way. Your best option is to get enrolled in teh special category courses for Overseas Compatriots.

If you get your degree abroad, and have no foreign passport, you will still need to take the tests necessary for working here legally.

It is not as a foreigner who comes here and has a degree autenticated from abroad and can only limit his participation in ceratin jobs in certain areas but does not need to take local examinations.

You will still be at a “disadvatgae”, as you need that certification, even if you can take any job. I’ve seen people take teh medical exam, for example, over and over again. You’ve seen teh ruckus they have now with the people who studied medicine in Poland, for instance.

The G’ment and the MOE do not make it easy.

9

Medicine and law is a touchy issue… each country has its own licensing procedure and especially with law, every country has its own law so if you studied law overseas you’re studying laws in a different country, so its expected to run into problems. However general education as far as I know are not bound by region, especially science fields that doesn’t require licensing.

10

Better check, remember, “logic is a cultural constraint”, meaning you never know if they decided to add an extra procedure here and there… Knowing is always better. :slight_smile:

Once you get the all clear there, you can proceed to make a better decision.