The internationalization of higher education is an important strategy not only to enhance global development but also to increase the competitiveness of higher education itself. Furthermore, to cope with the phenomenon of having fewer children within each family commonly seen in Taiwan, recruiting foreign students with outstanding academic performance for degree programs has become an inevitable method which is able both to expand the student source and to internationalize the campus of universities.

As a result, MCUT has initiated the collaboration with NTUST since 2016 by signing the MoU on the scholarship project for international doctoral students, attracting distinguished overseas scholars to study in Taiwan with abundant subsidy and topnotch teaching resources. This scholarship project includes two modes: “double degrees” and “joint supervision”; the task of recruitment is handled by both MCUT and NTUST. In addition to the 100% tuition waiver, every scholarship recipient is also awarded with a monthly subsidy ranging from NTD18,000 to NTD20,000. Within either the mode of “double degrees” or “joint supervision,” the project participants are all guided by the faculty members of research centers at both universities. Each doctoral student participating the mode of “double degrees” is required to write two dissertations so as to obtain two PhDs respectively from MCUT as well as NTUST, and therefore becomes much more competitive in the particular academic field. Since 2016 when this project started, there have been 24 international doctoral students being recruited. Quite a few of them come from ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand. Moreover, there are also students from India, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Iran. So far, 3 students have successfully acquired doctoral degrees, including 1 double-degree PhD and 2 joint-supervision PhDs. Upon the practice of this project, the tremendous potential of attracting foreign academic talents to study in Taiwan has successfully manifested itself on the foundation of mutual collaboration between the two universities. Hence, right before the MoU expires, the agreement renewal ceremony for this scholarship project was held at NTUST in April, 2021, with the president of MCUT, Dr. Thu-Hua Liu, and that of NTUST, Dr. Jia-Yush Yen, as the signatories.

President Liu mentioned that in the aspect of research & development, there have been 9 university-level research centers and 2 doctoral programs established in recent years. Furthermore, in the aspect of practice & innovation, quite a few eye-catching results (ex. the second place in the Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport) have been acquired due to billions of funding invested in every research center. Through the cooperation with NTUST, we expect to integrate more academic resources and further become a national role model of an academic strategic alliance.

In order to encourage more competent students from overseas to study in Taiwan, MCUT is planning to raise the monthly stipend for the "double degree" doctoral students to NTD 25,000 and extend the basic number of awarding years from 3 to 4; extra scholarship might be still given depending on the previous academic performance evaluation result during the 5th year. Consequently, the project participants are expected to be able to conduct research more efficiently without financial concerns. Regarding the detail about this collaborative scholarship project, welcome to consult with the international offices of both universities.

Traditional Chinese Edition: 明志台科攜手合作外籍博士雙學位及共同指導獎學金計畫，以高額補助搭配教學資源，強力吸引優質學生赴臺攻讀！