Huayu BEST program
In cooperation with universities in the American and European Universities for promoting high-quality Mandarin programs, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education provides sponsorship to the local universities for promoting the Taiwan Excellent-Mandarin Program.
This Program starts in 2021 and will last for three years; if needed, it may be extended.
Terms:
An MOU exists between the local university and its counterpart university in foreign countries.
Sample activities of cooperation can be as follows:
Dispatch Mandarin-teaching faculty and exchange faculty to teach Mandarin/English.
Establish “Taiwan Excellent-Mandarin Scholarship” to encourage U.S. and European students with good academic grade, integrity in character, and fundamental knowledge in Mandarin, to study in Taiwan.
Promote on-line Mandarin-study materials and courses, and seek accreditation of those courses by U.S. and European universities.
Offer the Mandarin proficiency tests (“Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language,” i.e., “TOCFL”).
Offer Mandarin-training programs for faculty from U.S. and European universities. (Second-phase/ optional item)
Establish Center for Mandarin-Teaching at the U.S. and European universities. (Second-phase/optional item)
Work collaboratively with Taiwan’s K-12 schools for their bilingual (Mandarin and English) programs.
Notes:
The Mandarin-proficiency requirement for those who apply for the “Taiwan Excellent-Mandarin Scholarship” is to pass the Novice 2 level or above of the Mandarin-proficiency test within two years at the time of application.
Numbers of Scholarship are as follows:
For short-term Mandarin study (8 to 12 weeks): each participating sister university gets 20 to 40 scholarships to those coming to Taiwan for Mandarin study, together with obtaining an official certificate for credits and an official transcript.
For long-term Mandarin study (5 to 12 months): each participating sister university gets 2 to 4 scholarships to those coming to Taiwan for Mandarin study, together with obtaining an official certificate for credits and an official transcript.
Those obtaining the scholarships shall take 15-h required courses per week.
Each recipient of the “Taiwan Excellent Mandarin Scholarship” gets NT$ 25,000 per month; the duration of the Scholarship depends on the actual time that the recipient spends on participating in the Program.