The short version
Most social life starts with orientation, the club fair and, for international students, a buddy program. About half of students who don't live at home live in a school dorm: usually a shared room of two to six, with rules on cooking, visitors and drills. Every school must have a health center for first care and health checks. The pages linked below go into each part.
People: clubs, buddies and orientation
Clubs (社團) are the main way students meet outside class. National Taiwan University has more than 400; National Chung Hsing University in Taichung has 123. You join at a club fair early in the semester. Many schools pair new international students with a local buddy (學伴), and several Mandarin centers run language exchange. Some schools, such as NTU and National Chengchi University, require new international students to attend orientation.
→ Making friends: clubs, buddies and language exchange
Dorm life
In academic year 2025/26, school dorms housed 54.63% of students who don't live with their family, by our count from Ministry of Education data. More students applied than got a bed. International students often get priority in their first year, at NTU, NCCU, NTHU, NTUST, Fu Jen and NDHU among others. After that, most schools hold a lottery (抽籤).
Rooms
- Shared rooms are the norm. NTU's undergraduate rooms are for four, its graduate rooms for two. National Tsing Hua University's undergraduates mostly have four-person rooms. At NTUST, the priority beds for foreign students are all in six-person rooms or suites.
- Bring your own bedding. NCCU does not include a mattress or bedding, NCKU says students bring their own bedding, and NDHU provides no mattress.
- Some costs are extra: NCCU's air-conditioning runs on a prepaid card, and NCKU bills electricity separately.
- The Ministry of Education's dorm upgrade subsidy requires at least 4 square meters per person in a room.
Rules
- Cooking in rooms is not allowed at NTU, NCCU and NTUST. NCKU dorms have a kitchenette, and NTUST's First Dorm has a shared kitchen.
- NTU's rules also ban drinking, gambling, smoking, overnight visitors without permission and pets without permission. Missing a crisis-prevention drill can end a dorm contract.
- At NDHU, residents may not enter dorm rooms of the opposite sex or have guests stay overnight.
- Fu Jen's dorms use card-swipe entry. None of the school pages we read sets a nightly curfew.
- Selling or buying a dorm bed at NCCU leads to eviction and a one to three year ban.
Breaks
- At NTHU, academic-year residents don't need to move out over winter break; summer housing is a separate application.
- NCCU residents staying over Chinese New Year move to a designated dorm.
- Fu Jen gives overseas Chinese, mainland and foreign students priority for break housing, normally in one building.
→ Dorms: applying, lotteries and fees ·
Your health center
Under the School Health Act, every school must have a health center (健康中心) for health checks, first care for injuries and sudden illness, and health advice, and must hold regular student health checks. Nurses are optional at universities, so services vary. For doctors, pharmacies and counseling lines off campus: → Doctors, pharmacies and helplines
Safety
Orientation often covers safety. NTU's 2024 orientation week included an earthquake simulation, and Tamkang University's 2025 orientation for international freshmen had a talk on campus safety and anti-fraud. → Safety, earthquakes and typhoons
Apps and food
LINE is the main messaging app in Taiwan, and the one most people name as the app they use most. → LINE and the everyday apps
Night markets are part of student life: NCHU's language buddies in spring 2026 chose night markets as one of their meetups. NightMarket.tw explains how Taiwan night markets work. → Food on and off campus
Around your campus
The city guides cover the areas around several campuses: Inside Taipei's Taipei for students, Inside Hsinchu's East District (home to the universities), Inside Taichung's Xitun (Fengjia) and Inside Tainan's East District (NCKU).
Sources (21)
Checked November 2026.
Ministry of Education, student dorm data (校8) and dorm improvement subsidy rules. NTU, dorm FAQ, dorm regulations, dorm information, clubs, fall 2024 orientation week. NCCU, housing, undergraduate dorm guidelines, orientation. NTHU, student housing. NCKU, dorm specifications and charges. Fu Jen, dorm regulations. NTUST, dorms for foreign students. NDHU, dorm rules and housing for new students. NCHU, clubs and Language Buddy Program. Tamkang Times, orientation, fall 2025. School Health Act. TWNIC, 2025 Taiwan Internet Report.