As part of local universities’ efforts to internationalise its campus, many are devoted to increasing its provision of English taught degree programmes to cultivate a student cohort with higher level of international competences.

Such programmes are taught primarily in English, and in addition to English proficiency criteria, many also build in study abroad element as part of the completion requirement. Institutions offering English taught degree programmes commented that graduates of such programmes have more competitive edges over their peers in the international job market. These programmes were initially introduced by a number of private universities and have now gained prevalence with an increasing number of institutions, including the National Taiwan University.

Delivery of such programmes quite often has financial implications as it involves employment of foreign academics; the Ministry of Education has therefore approved special rate of these programmes. The tuition fee per semester is around NT 72,000 dollars (about £1,590), which is 153% of the average fee, reported United Daily.