Taiwan: Ministry of Education Republic of China Scholarships

The government agencies of the Republic of China (Taiwan)offers Taiwan Scholarships Program. There are the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the National Science Council of the Executive Yuan (NSC). to encourage outstanding international students to undertake degree programs in Taiwan. While providing study opportunities for a wide range of disciplines, at Taiwan's universities and colleges, this program also aims to:

1. Promote knowledge, understanding and friendship between people in Taiwan and in countries around the world.
2. Provide opportunities to increase academic and educational links with international institutions of higher learning.
3. Develop outstanding professionals and experts to meet the needs of the global society.

The Focus of Government Agencies Funding the Taiwan Scholarships

There are three government agencies that fund this program, each with a different focus in terms of recipients' nationalities and study programs:

* MOFA Scholarship:
Recipients from countries that have diplomatic relations with the R.O.C. (Taiwan) or countries specified as being diplomatically favorable by MOFA.

Undergraduate and/or postgraduate degree programs. Embassies of the R.O.C. can also award a pre-degree Mandarin Language Enrichment Program (LEP) scholarship to recipients to improve their language abilities.

* MOE Scholarship:
Recipients from countries other than those specified in the MOFA Scholarship.

Undergraduate and/or postgraduate programs. R.O.C.'s overseas offices can also designate a pre-degree Mandarin Language Enrichment Program (LEP) to recipients to improve their language abilities.

* NSC Scholarship:
Recipients from countries other than those specified in the MOFA Scholarship. Postgraduate programs only.

III. Amount of Scholarships

The amount of each scholarship varies in accordance with the funding government agency's policy:

1. MOFA Scholarship: One economy-class, direct-route roundtrip international airfare ticket, plus a monthly stipend of NT$30,000 (approximately US$930).
2. MOE Scholarship: A monthly stipend of NT$25,000 (approximately US$775) for undergraduate or LEP study, and NT$30,000 for a postgraduate degree program.
3. NSC Scholarship: A monthly stipend of NT$30, 000.

Recipients are responsible for their own expenses.

IV. Duration of Award

* The Award Period in Terms of Study Programs
The award period for each degree/study program is as follows:
1. Undergraduate program: maximum 4 years.
2. Master's program: maximum 2 years.
3. Doctoral program: maximum 3 years.
4. LEP: maximum 1 year.

* Maximum Duration of Combination of Awards
Upon completion of a LEP or a degree program, a recipient may apply for a scholarship for a degree program leading to a higher degree. However, the total duration of an award for any combination of degree/study programs is a maximum of five years.

* LEP Award
The LEP award is neither mandatory nor automatically granted; it has to be awarded by R.O.C. Embassies or Representative Offices where the applicant submitted his/her application. The LEP must be undertaken in the first year if it is included in the total award period. If applying for the LEP program during the first year, then the applicant must apply for his/her degree program the second year.

* Annual Award Period
The Annual award periods are from September 1st through August 31st of the following year. Recipients must matriculate within the award period unless approved by the receiving institution and the scholarship funding government agency. If recipients fail to arrive in Taiwan to study during this period, their award status will be cancelled and cannot be extended for another year.

If recipients begin their study after the intended study term/quarter has started, their award period will become effective from the month they matriculate, at their universities/colleges or Mandarin training centers in Taiwan.

* Expiration of Award
No matter whether a recipient begins undertaking language training courses in September or later, the LEP award period will expire on August 31st, even if its duration may be less than the designated one year period.

All awards will end by the last month of their specified award period. However, if recipients graduate, drop out, are expelled from their institutions, violate R.O.C. laws, receive any major demerits, or their scholarships are revoked, whichever comes first, the award will be terminated.

V. Eligibility

An applicant must meet all of the following criteria:

1.
Be a high school graduate or above, have an excellent academic performance in his/her most recent formal educational study experience, be of good moral character and does not have any criminal records.
2.
Is not an R.O.C. (Taiwan) national.
3.
Does not have the status of being an overseas compatriot student.
4.
Has never enrolled at any educational institution in Taiwan for the same level of degree or LEP that he/she plans to matriculate at.
5.
Is not an exchange student in accordance with any agreement of cooperation between an international university/college and an educational institute in Taiwan, at the time of receiving a Taiwan Scholarship.
6.
Has never received the scholarship to undertake any degree program or language study within the total award period of 5 years.
7.
Does not have any revocation record regarding the Taiwan Scholarship Program nor from the Ministry of Education's Huayu Enrichment Scholarship Program.
8.
Is not a recipient of any other scholarship or subsidy offered by the Taiwan government or from any other educational institutions in Taiwan.

VI. Application and Selection Process

For the application, the applicant must send all completed documents to the nearest Taiwan Embassy or Representative Office in his/her home country; see website for nearest embassy or representative office: http://www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/lp.asp?ctnode=1864&ctunit=30&basedsd=30&mp=6

In principle, the yearly application period is from February 1st through March 31st. However, the actual application period will be in accordance with the general regulations of the local Taiwan Representative Offices.

For the application period, guidelines and forms, types of scholarship and quotas, as well as information regarding the selection process and outcome announcement, applicants should directly contact the relevant Taiwan Embassy or Representative Office, as early as possible.

Application Documents: A complete application must include the following materials:

1.
One copy of the completed application form.
2.
One photocopy of applicant's passport or other nationality certificates.
3.
One photocopy of the highest-level diploma and a complete grade transcript.
(Note: These documents must be authenticated by a Taiwan overseas representative office, if issued by international educational institutions.)
4.
Supporting admission application materials (e.g. photocopies of application forms for language training centers or for a degree program at universities/colleges in Taiwan. The exact academic year that applicants would be enrolled as full-time students at these institutions must be clearly specified on these documents; or a copy of the application fee receipt, or the reply letter or e-mail from the school which the applicant has applied to).
5.
Additional documents as specified by individual representative offices (e.g. letters of reference).
6.
A photocopy of a certificate of the acceptable levels of English proficiency or Test of Proficiency – Huayu (TOP), depending on the language of instruction in class.
(N.B. Only applicants for degree programs need to submit this document.)
7.
Additional documents as specified by the individual representative offices.

The selection priority for these scholarships will be given to those who intend to undertake a degree program and have successfully received admission to a university/college.

VII. Re-Applying

Upon completion of a degree program, recipients may re-apply for a Taiwan Scholarship to undertake another degree program, by following the application process as specified above. The maximum duration of each recipient's total award period is 5 years.
(N.B. Upon completion of their LEP study, LEP award recipients may be granted another award period for a degree program through the universities/colleges that they will be attending. Required documents include a photocopy of admission to a university/college and certificates of English proficiency or TOP for their degree studies.)

VIII. Renewal

To review recipients' award qualifications for the next academic year, individual universities/ colleges will conduct an evaluation process regarding the Taiwan Scholarship award renewal status by February 28th of each year.

Each educational institution may set their own grading criteria for the required and passing minimum academic average for each semester, or may employ the current grading criteria, which is 60 out of 100 for undergraduates and 70 for postgraduates.

For recipients in the third year of their doctoral programs, this evaluation should be conducted in accordance with the regulations of their individual institutions, since systems vary from discipline to discipline, especially in terms of requirements for session credits and scheduling of the writing of their dissertations.

IX. Suspension and Revocation

(I) Suspension

*
Degree Programs:

1.
If a recipient fails to achieve a specified minimum academic average for a semester, his/her stipends will be suspended for one month.
2.
If a recipient fails to achieve a specified minimum academic average for two consecutive semesters, he/she will be permanently disqualified from receiving any Taiwan Scholarship awards, effective and beginning from the next academic term (semester).
3.
After a recipient registers at his/her school, if he/she does not attend class or leaves our country without the school's permission, except for summer and winter vacations, or during the writing thesis period, his/her stipends will be suspended for the months he/she was not in Taiwan. If this situation happens for 2 consecutive months, the scholarship will be cancelled, along with the award status.
4.
For all other cases, the universities will evaluate whether scholarship recipients' scholarships will be suspended or not.

*
LEP Program:

1.
Attendance Records:

Except for a serious illness or accident, if a recipient is absent from his/her required language sessions for 12 hours or more during a single month, his/her stipends will be suspended for one month.

2.
Academic Performance:

Beginning from the second study term/quarter in Taiwan, if a recipient's academic average for each study term/quarter is less than 80 out of 100, his/her stipends will be suspended for one month .

3.
TOP Rating:

A one-month-stipend suspension will be imposed if a recipient fails to submit to his/her Mandarin training center, a photocopy of a TOP (Test of Proficiency---Huayu) certificate with results rated at the level for Basic level or above, by June 30th. Registration fees for this TOP test are the full responsibility of the recipient.

However, LEP award recipients who are subsequently granted a Taiwan Scholarship for a degree program can ask for a reimbursement of the suspended one-month stipend as stated above, through the university/college that they attend for the degree programs within 6 months, if they pass the TOP test.

(II) Revocation:

A recipient may be permanently disqualified from receiving a Taiwan scholarship and the remaining stipends will be cancelled, if one of the following situations arises:

*
Degree Programs:

1.
Failure to submit at the time of matriculation for each study term/quarter, an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) with the reason "Pursuing Studies," by the deadline as specified by his/her university/college.
2.
Failure during the annual renewal evaluation of his/her Taiwan scholarship.
3.
Failure to submit a photocopy of an acceptable English /TOP proficiency certificate to the university/college, depending on the language of instruction, when transferring to a new program of study.
4.
Dropping out, being expelled from school, violating R.O.C. laws, or receiving any major demerits.
5.
Being simultaneously in receipt of another scholarship or subsidy offered by the Taiwan government or educational institutions. However, this does not include a round trip economy class airfare/ticket for international students from special designated areas or countries.
6.
Recipients facing disqualification situtions will have their cases reviewed by officals from the university and/or the Mandarin training center, in addition to the MOE.

*
LEP Program:

1.
Failure to submit at the time of matriculation for each study term/quarter, an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) with the reason "Pursuing Studies," by the deadlines as specified by his/her Mandarin training center.
2.
Failure to achieve an average academic score of 80 or above out of 100 for two consecutive terms/quarters of study, beginning from the second term/quarter of his/her study in Taiwan.
3.
Missing a final achievement score for any study term/quarter, with the exception of a serious illness or accident.
4.
Dropping out, being expelled from school, violating R.O.C. laws, or receiving any major demerits.
5.
Being simultaneously in receipt of another scholarship or subsidy offered by the Taiwan government or educational institutions. However, this does not include a round trip economy class airfare/ticket for international students from special designated areas or countries.

X. Transfer

After studying for a semester/term/quarter at a university/college or a Mandarin training center, a recipient may be allowed to transfer once during the course of a degree/LEP program, if the pertinent educational institutions approve this request.

Degree pursuers asking for a transfer to a new institution or program of study must submit to the new institution a photocopy of their English proficiency/TOP certificates, depending on the language of instruction in class. However, the award's qualification will be revoked from the month when recipients transferred to a new institution. At Mandarin training centers, if recipients have not submitted their TOP certificates while studying at the original center, they must deliver the certificates to the new institution before June 30th.

Before the award period expires, recipients that want to transfer to a different degree program at another university or college department or graduate school, must re-apply to the original institute of the Taiwan Representative Offices.

If the recipient's scholarship term has not yet expired, and the recipient has been admitted to the next level of study by his/ her attending school, then the attending school must submit the scholarship application form filled out by the student, transcripts, and the proof of admission, etc. to the government agencies that fund the scholarship program for approval. The University must also inform the results to the Ministry of Education and the designated office by MOE.

XI. Granting Scholarships

In principle, stipends are granted by the 10th day of each month, through the universities/colleges or Mandarin training centers where the recipients attend and follow the methods as specified by the individual institutions.

See more information of Taiwan Scholarships Program 2010 at:
http://english.moe.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=11981&CtNode=10632&mp=1
(Copy and paste the link above on your browser)