MAD Graduate Student Sharing Dual Degree Program Experience
Release Date 12 November 2021 Mandarin
Getting a dual degree within a two-year graduate study sounds fantastic, but it is not an uneasy path for a student to earn two advanced degrees at the same time. It requires them to keep self-discipline and overcome the language barrier. The pandemic gave students who undertook dual degree programs (DDPs) a hard time as well.
Yet Chiu, Kuo-Chun (邱國鈞), a graduate student of Mechatronics Engineering Department (MAD), still pursued two master's programs and became the second graduate student who acquired Taiwan and Japan's dual degrees in tandem, each from NKUST and Ehime University this year.
He was also the second student who received the Sheh Fung DDP Scholarship, sponsored by Sheh Fung Screws Co., Ltd., in 2017.
NKUST has signed a Memorandum on International Dual Degrees with Ehime University in Japan to acknowledge academic credits from one another since 2017. The DDP has increased international exchanges and collaborative research between students and scholars of two universities.
MAD graduate students who applied for the DDP can take up to 30-course credits from Ehime University for a second graduate degree. However, the COVID-19 pandemic affected students learning.
Chiu mentioned that when he started his first DDP semester, he could only take virtual courses in Taiwan rather than in-person classrooms in Japan due to the pandemic. Still, he completed his graduate works and earned the required credits.
Ehime University is a well-known engineer university with strong research capabilities in Japan. Even though the COVID-19 disrupted Chiu’s original plans to travel to Japan for his dual-degree master’s program, he accepted the challenge to finish courses, group discussion, and actual practices online at home in Taiwan.
“This experience equipped me with a more open-minded attitude. I welcome any new thoughts from different fields.”
“The first two things I have to overcome about the Dual Degree Program are language and virtual learning. Discussing class materials with my classmates online increased the communication difficulties. It wasn’t until I flew to Japan that I finally met them in person. But this experience equipped me with a more open-minded attitude. I welcome any new thoughts from different fields. Immersing myself in Japanese culture, I advance both my English and Japanese. After graduation, I’m planning to work in Japan, and this experience is beneficial,” said Chiu.
Further Reading
Translated/Edited by Jess Lin
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