I have been following this amazing board for quite some time but now I need a little help. I take the chance to introduce myself as well.
I’m a 25 year old guy from Italy, recently graduated in Toronto with a double major in Commerce and East Asian Studies and I lived a couple of years as an exchange student all over the region HK, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul and of course Taipei!. Now, I’m planning to go back to Taiwan to continue my studies and hopefully being able one day to combine work and passion…worth a try!
about my question:
I’m interested in applying for a master program next year and I think I can have a good shot at the Taiwan Scholarship program. However, before starting my master, I was planning to take intensive mandarin course at NTU this November to complete the Intermediate curriculum.(I recently passed the TOCFL Elementary lvl)
now, on the eligibility rules of the Taiwan Scholarship it says:
“i)Applicants are ineligible if they meet the following criteria:
2.Are already registered or have obtained student status at any university/college in Taiwan. Graduating students pursuing further studies are exempt from this rule.”
So my question is simple: do you know if taking that mandarin course would automatically make me lose the chance of the Taiwan Scholarship later for the master? Or maybe completing the mandarin course at NTU could still be considered a form of graduation?
I have already asked the embassies in Italy and Canada, but no clear answer yet…
My suggestion if you are interested in going down this route is to apply for the Language Enrichment Program (LEP) at the same time as the Taiwan Scholarship. Then you can brush up your Mandarin for 1 year before starting your degree program.
By the way, are you planning on applying to NTU for your degree program as well? Double check your program requirements, most of the programs require TOCFL Level 4(Advanced) or above.
A person in any of the following categories is ineligible to apply:
An ROC national or an overseas Chinese student.
A person who already has and is continuing to maintain student status at any university or tertiary college in Taiwan or a person who has already registered to begin studies at a university/college in Taiwan. This restriction does not apply to a student who will complete a degree and graduate that year. They may apply for a Taiwan Scholarship to pursue a higher degree.
A person who has already studied in Taiwan for a degree at the same level as the one in which they intend to enroll.
(Click the link for the whole list. But basically, if you didn’t get the degree in TW, it looks like you can get one at the same level with the scholarship)
Sorry so to be clear, you can’t apply for the Lep if you’ve already started a PhD program right? I’m not using a Taiwan government scholarship for my PhD but want to use one so I can study Chinese if that’s even possible.
Edit: I guess it’s not possible because of the second point but I’m not sure why that rule exists
It doesn’t look like the LEP exists anymore. There’s the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship, but there used to be an add-on for the Taiwan Scholarship that was for Chinese language skills (prior to starting one’s studies at a university under the Taiwan Scholarship) that appears to no longer exist.
If you’ve already started your studies in a PhD program in Taiwan, I don’t think you’re eligible for the Taiwan Scholarship (but you might be eligible for the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship?)