The academic international office of the Hochschule Niederrhein made it possible for me to spend a semester abroad at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST). Since the Degree programmes Business Administration and the International Master of Business Administration are offered at NTUST, it is easy for a management student to find courses here that also fit into the German curriculum. Students from other Degree programmes can also easily find courses here, as the university is primarily a technical university (the best technical university in Taiwan). It is also possible to take courses at the best university in Taiwan, National Taiwan University (NTU), whose campus is right next to NTUST's, and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), which is one metro stop away. However, the greater number of credit points must be earned at NTUST.
In order to register at NTUST, you have to prove that you do not suffer from tuberculosis, for this you need an X-ray of your lungs (if necessary, this can also be done at NTUST during the first week of lectures), and you have to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella. For information about vaccinations, it is best to contact the Foreign Office early enough to get all the necessary vaccinations.
German citizens do not need a visa to enter Taiwan for a stay of up to 90 days. A student visa is recommended, however, before the first 90 days were up, I left Taiwan for a short vacation and was granted another 90 days visa-free stay upon my return.
There are many options as a foreign student to rent accommodation in Taipei. You can find private landlords in Facebook groups, such as Taipei Taiwan Apartment Rentals or Looking for roommates or apartments in Taipei and Taiwan. I can only recommend everyone to book an Airbnb or hostel first and then go apartment hunting in person. The pictures on the internet of the apartments are mostly old and if you meet the landlord in person, it is much easier to negotiate a contract that fits your time frame.
One credit point in Taiwan is equivalent to about 1.9 German credit points. Lectures with three credit points are three hours long, lectures with two credit points are two hours long. Many lectures are also in the evening from about 6 to 9 p.m., especially the language courses. Most courses require a lot of group work with submissions and presentations every few weeks, homework is also assigned from time to time.
Courses are selected online in advance. You should be quick, as the courses may fill up quickly. Normally you can show up at the first lecture hour for a full course and ask the professor to accept you - as an international student you often get the chance to attend the course after all. As soon as the NTUST accepts you, you will receive an access code to register for the courses. You can withdraw from the chosen courses during the first week and add others if you notice in the first lesson that the content is not as presented. The courses offered are varied, especially since you can choose from three universities. I can only recommend everyone to take up the offer and also take a course at NTU or NTNU.
The National Taiwan University of Science and Technology offers support to international students in the form of the AIA (Association of International Affairs). The AIA is run by NTUST students and organizes events throughout the semester so that students from abroad can get to know each other and connect. In addition, you can apply for the buddy program and get a student from NTUST to help you with questions and problems in the foreign country.
The campus, which is located in the south of Taipei, has existed since 1974 and is composed of seven faculties. There are two dining halls on campus, two 7-eleven, a post office, ATMs, a doctor, a gym, a swimming pool, a sports field with basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts, etc.
Very close to the campus is the Gongguan night market, which offers food and drinks from about 16:00.
To get to the university quickly, I would either stay at the Guting, Taipower (green line) or Technology Building (brown line) metro station. The green metro line is better in my opinion, as you can get to the main train station from Guting/Taipower in a few minutes, and it is also very easy to transfer to all corners of Taipei from here. With the brown line (Technology Building) you are usually faster by bus than by metro. But you can also rent bikes around the clock with your student ID at the so-called Ubike stations (0.15 € per half hour). The fastest way is to take the High Speed Rail (HSR). It takes only three hours to get from Taipei to southern Taiwan.
Travel within the island is very diverse. Taiwan has a lot of mountains and a lot of coastline with a few more small islands. There are some hot springs, on Green Island (Lüdao) even one of the only three hot salt water springs worldwide, the other two countries with such springs are Iceland and Italy. In the Alishan Nature Park (about 2,000 meters above sea level) you can watch the sunrise wonderfully, if you are lucky with the weather. Hualien and the Taroko National Park located there is also a popular vacation destination. In Hualien, mountains and sea are right next to each other, which makes for a very beautiful landscape. But also directly around Taipei there is a lot to discover; on the one hand the city itself with its various districts (banking district around the landmark Taipei 101, Wufenpu or Zhongxiao Fuxing for shopping, the electronics district around Zhongxiao Xinsheng and many more) or you take a gondola up the MaoKong near the zoo, bathe in a hot spring in Yangmingshan or relax on the north coast in Tamsui.
In the evening, night markets open all over Taiwan, where you can get delicious food and drinks for little money. The big tourist night markets in Taipei are often very crowded and also a bit more expensive than the lesser known night markets (Raohe night market in Songshan and Lehua night market in Dingxi).
I was in Taipei from February to July, when I arrived the first thing I noticed was the high humidity, however it could still get quite chilly, which felt even more uncomfortable due to the humidity. The humidity remained, but it got warmer and warmer (with the exception of regular sudden drops in temperature). Once it gets warm or hot, it barely cools down even towards late evening, so no need for a jacket at night in spring and summer.
What I will miss most is the safe environment (less thefts than in Germany) and the people I had the chance to meet there, including some Taiwanese. I got to know the Taiwanese as very helpful and lovely people who were eager to learn more about us Westerners. The helpfulness once went so far that a Taiwanese came after us on a motorcycle, complete with sandwiches, because he saw that we were looking for food in a foreign city. I will also miss the constant cheap social dining and Bubble Milk.
