Experience report Susan van Dueren den Hollander Study Program: Bachelor Personeelwetenschappen Exchange semester: Spring 2017 Academic year: 2016-2017 Host University: National Chengchi University Country: Taipei, Taiwan General information about the school National Chengchi University (NCCU) is located in the capital city of Taiwan; Taipei. I lived in the city centre and took a bus to the university of 40 minutes go and back. The campus looks a lot like Tilburg University. One main street with different buildings at both sides. Near the university are a lot of nice restaurants, also the restaurant of NCCU itself is quite okay and cheap. The best dish near the campus is Exploded Chicken, I loved that dish. The Maokong Gondola and Taipei Zoo are very nice to visit and in a walking distance of the university. Currently there are around 10 000 undergraduates and 6500 graduates including a lot of international students. Practical information NCCU is really clear in providing you all the information you need to know. Only the course selection
was a little bit hard to find out, but you can arrange this also on location. A student visa is not necessary in Taiwan. You can enter the country for 90 days, go on a city trip and enter the country again for 90 days. I choose for this option instead of going to the embassy in the Netherlands which takes a lot of time. NCCU also provide you one, two or three buddies to help you with everything you need to know in advance and in Taipei itself. I was really lucky, because my buddy picked me up from the airport and brought me to my student house. I joined one introduction day and one introduction lunch of the student association. Nice to meet some new people in your first weeks. But to be honest, I spent a lot of time with people in my house and people from another university in the city center, because it was easier to catch up. The university also provides on campus housing, which seemed really nice to me as well, an international house and different dorms. It is just what you are looking for. I don t regret my choice to live outside the campus with 11 wonderful roommates. To finance my exchange period I rent more money from DUO. My daily expenses were on average the same as in Tilburg. Asian food is cheap, Western food is more expensive. My room was also more expensive than in Tilburg. Of course the travelling cost a lot of money as well. I liked some variation in my meals, so for me it was worth it to spend more money. Be aware that flight tickets to other countries are not super cheap. I first spend one week in Hong Kong to visit a friend. The second week of February I arrived in Taipei. Two weeks later my courses started. In June my semester was ending, the exact date depends on you exams/courses. In the middle of the semester there is one mid-term week, if you don t have any midterms, you have a week off. The timing of the exams depends on the courses you choose. Some courses only have assignments, some courses have midterms and a final exam in the end and some courses have assignments during the semester and a final exam in the end. I promoted Tilburg University by showing pictures of the city, the campus and my friends. There were no other events to contribute. It just crossed a lot of times the conversation. The university organised some food markets during the year to promote your own country. Besides this, I did not join so many activities. I met a lot of times with my buddy to share our culture and of course with my friends from other countries, locals and exchange students. During my exchange I visited Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore. After my exchange I travelled through Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, I highly recommend this to everyone! Of course I experienced culture differences, but I would not say a culture shock. Everything was totally different, the food, the weather, the people, the housing, the shops, but I really liked it to face this challenge. I am a very open minded person and was especially excited to face the differences. Something I found sometimes a little bit annoying was the lack of the English language and introvert personalities of the Taiwanese people. Luckily, I did not experience this English barrier in college or with the international office of the university. As told before I travelled through some other countries. It was really interesting to discover the differences between Taipei and (capital) cities of other countries. Although it is all Asia, for me no city was similar. Taipei is a small, Chinese focused city where the business brings more and more western influences. Seoul seemed to me as one big big city with a lot of high buildings where international business plays a big role, also the metro system is so much bigger compared to Taipei. Hong Kong of course is also famous for its business, but it has a lot of Chinese influences as well. This city is also
way more bigger, noisier and busier compared to Taipei. In all this cities the metro or taxi s are the ways to go from A to B. But in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh or Phnom Phen there is no metro system, you use tuktuks, bicycles or pick-up trucks to transport yourself. One thing is similar, they use everywhere a huge amount of scooters. Because I saw so many different cities it is impossible to describe all the differences here, but if you are interested I am happy to inform you about it face to face. In my opinion it is an advantage that I lived abroad and saw so many different cities and countries. In the future I like to work in an international company and this experience can help me a lot to function better in my job. My English improved and I have more ability to replace myself in another person in another culture. Which of course helps to understand eachother and do business together. Besides this it made me even more interested in discovering other countries, I would love to travel more and learn more about the world. It changed my view at some points and helps me realize how great is it is that we have the richness to grow up in the Netherlands. So many people in the world have not the great youth and opportunities to do whatever you want to do as I have. I am really grateful for that, but the most beautiful thing is that almost all the poor people I met are so happy with what they have. Something we can learn from! Academic information At NCCU courses are thought in English and in Mandarin. You have the option to choose both. I did not follow any Chinese lessons, so for me it was easy to make the dicision to follow English thought courses. I choose to follow the courses: financial management, digital media and e-marketing, new media technology civilization, consumer behaviour, global leadership and workshop in sustainability issues. I choose this courses because they could help me to get accepted for the master business administration without doing a premaster program. The teaching style differs per course, as well as the level of the courses. Personally I found financial management really difficult, but I expected something totally different from the courses new media technology civilization and digital media. To be honest, these courses where practically the same.. Above I described already the forms of examination; different per subject.
Course Prerequisites Exam ECTS Comments Financial Management Accounting Written 6 6 homework assignments, 2 mid-terms, 1 final New Media Technology Civilization Digital media and e-marketing Workshop in Sustainability Issues - - 6 Presentation, final essay - - 6 Presentation, final essay - - 6 2 homework assignments, 1 final essay, 1 fieltrip Global Leadership - - 4 Lot of homework assignments, 1 big assignment including presentations Consumer Behaviour - - 4 Lot of homework assignments consisting of presentations, written reports and papers I CAN ONLY GIVE YOU ONE TIP; GO ON EXCHANGE AND ENJOY EVERYTHING WHICH IS FACING YOU. MY GRAZY TAIWANESE PROFESSOR SAID ONCE; ON EXCHANGE YOU ARE MORE IN CHARGE OF YOURSELF, THAN ANY OTHER TIME. AND IT IS EXACTLY LIKE THAT, GO FOR THIS UNIQUE OPPURTINITY WITH BOTH HANDS. ENJOY. CHEERS, SUSAN PS. If you have any further questions after reading this report, feel free to ask my contact information at the study abroad office. I am happy to inform you about everything.