Taipei School of Economics In Hsinchu

Hello all, or should I say.........

I wanted to introduce you to the program I have chosen for my master's degree in more depth now that I am here in person and have taken one full week of classes.

My program is on the campus of National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu Taiwan, the campus is quite large with about 20 thousand people. I have felt the largeness of the university by seeing the lunch rush. Every day the 3 lunch buildings are so packed I can barely find a seat. My undergrad was at a small 2,000 person university so this feels crazy. The TSE building is on the south side of campus where it is not as busy. The Building as pictured above second floor is all for my department. we have a nice study area and library, free coffee and water, a locker and kitchen area for keeping cold lunches and heating them up. Basically everything I need is here and its my own little paradise.

My classes are extremely diverse. My program has about 60 people overall, half first years half second or third or exchange. I was surprised during introductions on how many different places we are from. Vietnam, France, Philippines, USA, Eswatini, Mongolia and more! My professors are also from around the world. My International Political Economy professor is from France and lives in Canada and has lived and done research in more countries that I can count. I have some extremely knowledgeable professors from Taiwan who have worked in economics for over 20 years. Today was our orientation where we meet all of the faculty and hear about them and their classes. I had a great time talking to the professors and my fellow classmates over lunch.

Here are some of my possible classes!

Core Courses for MAPE

(8 credits)

• Asian Development in Historical and Global Perspective

• Asian Economic Development in Comparative Perspective

• Chinese Development Model in Comparative Perspective

• Civilizations and World Order

• China in the Global Political Economy

• Government and Politics in Asia

• Regional Integration in Asia

• State and Development in Asia

• The Transformation of Global Order in the 21st Century

• International Relations of East Asia 

I will be in this program for 2 years and have to write a thesis the second half of my second year and I have some ideas of what I want to do and there are 2 professors that I found also interested in my topic.

The cool thing about TSE is also that it is so new, as it started in 2021 right after covid with a small class it has grown to a new incoming number of 35-40. There are professors that come for one semester from around the world, and the staff is growing. Last year there were only 2 Americans but this year 6! I really like this program and am so happy to have chosen to study in Taiwan at TSE!

Feel free to ask me any questions in my email!