Taiwan Scholarship

Two scholarships with one name

Both are run day to day by the Taiwan Scholarship and Huayu Enrichment Scholarship Program Office. Both are applied for through Taiwan's offices abroad. They have different rules, so check which one your country's office offers.

MOE Taiwan Scholarship

What it pays

• Tuition The MOE pays up to NT$40,000 per semester of approved tuition and miscellaneous expenses. You pay anything above that.
• Living allowance NT$15,000 a month for bachelor's students, NT$20,000 a month for master's and doctoral students.
• Not covered Administration fees, thesis supervision fees, insurance, accommodation and internet costs. You pay all expenses other than tuition and miscellaneous expenses.

Some universities give Taiwan Scholarship recipients a tuition discount. The program site publishes the list of those universities.

How long it lasts

Up to 4 years for a bachelor's degree, 2 years for a master's and 4 years for a doctorate, and no more than 5 years in total. The scholarship year runs from September 1 to August 31. If you don't arrive and register on time, you lose the scholarship and can't defer it, unless the university and the MOE approved a later arrival beforehand.

The allowance runs from the month you start attending. From the 2026 academic year, students starting a bachelor's degree are paid until June 30 of their graduation year.

After finishing a degree, you can apply again for the next degree level, by February 28 of any year, to the same office. This is a new application, and the 5-year total still applies.

Who can apply

Foreign nationals with a secondary school or post-secondary diploma, an excellent academic record and good moral character. You can't apply if any of these is true:

• You are an overseas compatriot student, or you hold R.O.C. (Taiwan) nationality.
• You are from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau.
• You are already registered at, admitted to, or registered to start a degree at a Taiwan university. A final-year student applying for a higher degree is the exception.
• You have already studied in Taiwan for a degree at the same level.
• You are an exchange student or a dual or joint degree student under a university cooperation agreement.
• You have already held a Taiwan Scholarship for 5 years in total.
• Your Taiwan Scholarship or MOE Huayu Enrichment Scholarship was ever revoked.
• You will receive financial help from any Taiwan government agency or Taiwan school while studying, apart from a university tuition discount covering fees above the MOE limit.

Documents

• The application form from your country's office (each office designs its own).
• A copy of your passport or other proof of nationality.
• A copy of your highest diploma and transcripts. Documents not in Chinese or English need a notarized Chinese or English translation.
• Proof that you applied to a Taiwan university for the coming year, such as the application fee receipt, the application form or an acknowledgement email.
• Language results. For programs not fully taught in English: a TOCFL (Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language) result at Band B or higher where your office runs TOCFL testing. No other Chinese test is accepted. Where it doesn't, you must pass TOCFL Band B by the end of your first semester in Taiwan, at your own cost. For programs fully taught in English: TOEFL or another English test your office accepts, or proof that you graduated from an English-taught program. Citizens of countries where English is an official language are exempt.
• Two sealed letters of recommendation from a principal, university president, professor or tutor, each signed across the envelope seal.
• Anything else your office asks for.

How selection works

Offices look for a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.5 scale for bachelor's applicants and 3.5 for master's applicants, converting other scales. They give preference to applicants with TOCFL Band B or higher. They review documents, interview, or both.

MOFA Taiwan Scholarship

• Who it is for In principle, students from countries with diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The program site's comparison table also includes countries MOFA recognizes as having friendly relations. Not open to students from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
• What it covers A Mandarin Language Enrichment Program of up to one year before a degree, and bachelor's, master's or doctoral programs. In-service programs are excluded.
• Monthly stipend NT$28,000 during the Mandarin program, NT$33,000 for degree study.
• Tuition Not paid. You pay your own expenses in Taiwan. MOFA provides one-way economy-class tickets for direct flights to and from Taiwan.
• Period Starts August 1 of the first year, or the month you arrive if later. It runs without breaks.

You need a high school diploma or higher, an excellent academic record, good moral character and no criminal record. You can't be an R.O.C. national or an overseas compatriot student, or have studied at a Taiwan school at the same level. If you have been awarded a Huayu Enrichment Scholarship, you can't choose the Mandarin program.

Documents are similar to the MOE version: application form, passport copy, highest diploma and full transcript, proof of applying to a Taiwan school or its Mandarin center, and language results (TOCFL Level 2 or above for Chinese-taught degrees, or an English certificate for English-taught ones). Incomplete applications are not accepted.

Good to know: the official sources differ on insurance for MOFA recipients. The program FAQ says MOFA covers it for recipients who signed the personal data consent form. The MOFA guidelines say premiums before National Health Insurance are deducted from the stipend. Ask your office.

The yearly timeline

Each office sets its own dates and publishes them in its own guidelines. These are the dates in the national rules.

For the 2027 round, no announcement was on the program site when we checked. Under the MOE rules, offices publish their 2027 guidelines by January 31, 2027, and the default window is February 1 to March 31, 2027.

The program site describes the MOE steps like this: apply to your local office and, separately, to a Taiwan university; attend an interview with the office; send the office your admission notice; receive the scholarship certificate; arrive and register; the university pays the allowance. → How to apply to a university from abroad

Rules while you hold it

MOE

• Each semester, keep an average of at least 70 (bachelor's) or 80 (graduate), or your school's higher standard. Below it for one semester: the allowance stops for one month. Below it for two semesters in a row: the scholarship is revoked from the next semester.
• Where TOCFL is required: not submitted by the end of the first semester, the allowance stops until you submit it. Not submitted by the end of the second semester, the scholarship is revoked from the third.
• Missing more than a third of classes in a month (outside winter and summer breaks) can stop that month's allowance. More than 15 days outside Taiwan in a month during the semester can too.
• You can't go abroad as an exchange or dual degree student. A required overseas internship or thesis research is allowed, but no tuition is paid that semester and no allowance while you are away.
• Each semester you must show an ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) with "pursuing studies" as the reason for stay.
• You must join National Health Insurance as required, and buy other medical and student accident insurance.
• You must take part in MOE language and culture activities.
• You can transfer university or department once, at the same degree level, with both schools' approval. Bachelor's students must wait at least one year.
• Getting other financial help from a Taiwan government body or school means the scholarship is revoked and everything paid must be repaid. So do false documents.

MOFA

• Degree students below the school's minimum average in a semester (or 60 for undergraduates and 70 for postgraduates if the school has none) lose one month's stipend. Two semesters in a row can mean losing the scholarship.
• Mandarin program students must submit TOCFL Level 2 listening and reading certificates by June of the year after arrival, or lose one month's stipend. You pay the test fees.
• Getting another scholarship from the Taiwan government or a Taiwan school means disqualification, and MOFA recovers the stipends already paid.

Questions

Can I hold the Taiwan Scholarship and another scholarship at the same time?

No. Recipients may hold only one scholarship from a Taiwan government body or Taiwan educational institution. Under the MOE rules, a university tuition discount covering fees above the MOE limit is the one exception.

Do I apply to the university or to the embassy?

Both, separately. The scholarship application goes to the Taiwan representative office for your country. Admission is a separate application to the university, within that university's own application period.

Can students from Hong Kong or Macau apply?

No. Both the MOE and MOFA Taiwan Scholarships exclude students from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and overseas compatriot students.

→ Huayu Enrichment Scholarship for Mandarin study · Costs and scholarships

Sources (9)

Checked November 2026.Show

Ministry of Education, Operation Directions Governing the Ministry of Education Taiwan Scholarships (amended February 10, 2026; Chinese text). Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guidelines for the MOFA Taiwan Scholarship Program (revised July 11, 2023, linked from the program site). Taiwan Scholarship and Huayu Enrichment Scholarship Program: home, scholarship guidelines and comparison table, MOE application process, FAQ: application and release, FAQ: insurance and housing, contact.