Query about Finances of Graduate Education in East Asia

Blog regular Joshua Harwood writes:

I am interested in the financial details of graduate programs in Chinese philosophy, in East Asia. Taiwan (where I am now) offers some scholarship assistance for those who enroll in Chinese graduate programs, which includes living stipends, etc., but I know that such assistance differs by major, and the details of the program are not crystal-clear to me.

I’ve saved some money, but doubt that I’ll ever meet the tuition demands of most US universities, and so I decided long ago that I would prefer to study in an East Asian graduate program. I’m probably nearing the time to begin my admissions process, and I would appreciate any helpful resources (in Chinese or English) which might help me focus my decisions.

If it helps, my primary interests in Chinese philosophy are Yang Zhu, pre-Han Chinese metaethics, and 命. For non-Chinese-specific topics, I’m most interested in formal logic, especially the connection of formal languages to natural languages, and mathematical logic.

I’m sure we’d all benefit from any thoughts or advice.

6 thoughts on “Query about Finances of Graduate Education in East Asia

  1. You know right that if you do a PhD at a good program in the US, you don’t pay a cent? In fact, they pay you a modest stipend, usually in return for some teaching which is very very good experience.

    • I’ve heard of full-ride deals with living stipends for different Ph.D. programs (chemistry and computer science, personally), but not so many for philosophy.

      I recently read through the program that Nanyang offers (http://philosophy.hss.ntu.edu.sg/Pages/OurProgramme.aspx), and while I love the idea of working with Chenyang Li and writing something in the philosophy of science end of logical inference, the effective mapping of Western-standard metaethical divisions to Warring States figures, etc., I got little financial information on the scholarships that the HSS provides. That makes sense if the program is new. After I scoured the scholarship links, it appears that their listed scholarships are geared toward their MBA and science programs.

    • My understanding might possibly be out-of-date, but I think you’ll find that at least for the many philosophy programs in which you’re admitted to the PhD program straightaway (rather than first being in a master’s program, and then having to reapply for PhD programs), all admitted students are given one form or another of teaching or research assistantship, as Esther says. I believe this will be tru for many or even all top programs.

      As for financial support at Nanyang, I recommend getting in touch with Chenyang directly. The message he sent to me says that there is generous financial assistance, and I expect that this applies to the philosophy program.

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