Shih Chien University

About Shih Chien University

Shih Chien University developed from a specialist home-economics institution into a multidisciplinary private university. Its official history records its establishment in 1958, conversion to Shih Chien College of Design and Management in 1991, and promotion to university status in 1997. The name “Shih Chien” is associated with putting knowledge into practice, a theme reflected in the institution’s emphasis on applied teaching and links between specialist study and practical work. The university operates two campuses with different academic profiles. The Taipei campus includes the Colleges of Human Ecology, Law, Design, and Management, as well as international programs. The Kaohsiung campus includes the College of Business and Information and the College of Culture and Creativity. Applicants should check the campus attached to each degree because program availability, housing arrangements, and living environment differ substantially between Taipei and Kaohsiung. The official university history reports approximately 12,000 students and 620 faculty and staff, but it does not state the reporting year; these figures are therefore best treated as broad institutional context rather than a current enrollment census. For international applicants, the university maintains a dedicated Office of International Affairs and a separate online application route. The active 2026–2027 international admissions brochure confirms that the institution continues to recruit degree students. Its mix of design, human-centered disciplines, management, and applied business makes it most relevant to students seeking a practice-oriented curriculum, provided they carefully confirm the language demands of their chosen department.

Shih Chien University uses different admissions channels for foreign students, overseas Chinese students, Hong Kong and Macao applicants, and domestic applicants. Candidates should establish the correct status before applying; deadlines and eligibility rules are not interchangeable. The 2026–2027 foreign-student brochure covers fall 2026 and spring 2027 entry for international degree applicants. For fall 2026, the brochure listed three application rounds ending March 31, May 25, and July 13, 2026. Those rounds had passed by the profile date of August 20, 2026. The next stated foreign-student window is for spring 2027 entry, running from October 12 through November 9, 2026. Applicants should still confirm that their chosen program admits a spring cohort before relying on that university-wide period. Applications are submitted online, and paper applications are not accepted under the published process. A candidate may apply to as many as three programs, uploading the required review materials separately for each one, but may ultimately register in only one admitted department or graduate program. The application fee is NT$1,500 for payment in Taiwan or US$50 by overseas remittance, excluding bank charges, and is non-refundable. Required materials include academic credentials and transcripts, alongside Chinese- or English-language proficiency evidence or an accepted equivalent. Requirements can vary by program and degree level. Students graduating in the admission year may apply with semester records but must provide final credentials at registration or risk losing the offer.

Shih Chien University awards bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Its official degree list documents undergraduate and graduate study across food and beverage management, family studies, nutrition and biotechnology, social work, music, law, fashion design, architecture, industrial design, communications design, business, finance, languages, and information technology. The portfolio is campus-specific: Taipei contains the Colleges of Human Ecology, Law, Design, and Management, while Kaohsiung contains the Colleges of Business and Information and Culture and Creativity. Design is represented through areas such as fashion, architecture, industrial design, communications design, computer animation, and visual effects. Human ecology includes fields such as food and beverage management, family studies, nutrition, social work, and music. Management offerings include accounting, international business, business administration, risk management and insurance, finance and banking, applied foreign languages, and information technology and management. The official award list also identifies a PhD through the Graduate Institute of Creative Industries. Applicants concerned about instructional language should examine individual program requirements. The database record identifies Chinese as the institutional language of instruction, while the university expressly lists an English-taught bachelor’s program in Smart Service Management, an English-taught bachelor’s program in International Business, and an MBA in International Business. The presence of these programs should not be interpreted to mean that other degrees are taught in English. Program names and availability can change, so the current admissions brochure and department curriculum should be checked before applying. Some management curricula also use advanced tracks and interdisciplinary options, supporting study beyond a single departmental core.

Key Highlights

• Private Taiwanese university founded in 1958 and granted university status in 1997
• Two-campus institution with distinct academic offerings in Taipei and Kaohsiung
• Active 2026–2027 international degree admissions
• Official history reports approximately 12,000 students across the university

Student Life & Environment

Student life depends strongly on campus and housing choice. At the Taipei campus, the official campus map identifies student restaurants, common areas, specialist studios, student-association offices, and two student-dormitory buildings. Facilities shown for design students include fashion workshops, photography space, sewing rooms, and other specialist work areas. These features support a campus experience in which practical coursework and student activity share a compact urban setting. The Office of International Affairs describes furnished accommodation with beds, desks, storage, communal space, and on-site management. Its current housing page identifies an on-campus women’s residence at the Taipei campus with four- and six-person rooms. It separately lists men’s accommodation at two off-campus addresses in Taipei, offering several room configurations. Students should not assume that all applicants receive an on-campus place or that the same arrangements apply in Kaohsiung; availability, eligibility, price, and assignment should be confirmed directly for the relevant intake. International students can use the Office of International Affairs for admissions and student-service guidance. The university also publishes scholarship, exchange, internship, employment, and work-permit information. Students planning paid work must follow Taiwan’s work-permit rules, while those seeking campus employment can investigate administrative, teaching-support, research-assistant, project, and campus-service roles described by the university.

Location & Surroundings

The Taipei campus is at No. 70, Dazhi Street in Zhongshan District, Taipei. This profile’s stored city refers to that main campus; it does not represent the university’s separate Kaohsiung campus. Applicants should verify the teaching location for their program before comparing housing or travel costs. Dazhi is an urban district served by Taipei’s public-transport network. The university’s international office emphasizes access to the MRT and advises students looking off campus to prioritize proximity to a station. The setting gives students access to the services, cultural venues, employers, and transport connections of Taiwan’s capital, but independent renting may cost substantially more than a dormitory place. Housing patterns affect the daily experience. The university lists women’s accommodation on the Taipei campus and men’s residences at off-campus addresses elsewhere in Zhongshan District. Consequently, commute and neighborhood conditions vary even among Taipei students. The Kaohsiung campus offers a different city and academic environment and should not be treated as interchangeable with Taipei when evaluating climate, cost, transportation, or proximity to particular departments.

Costs & Career Outcomes

The university’s international office publishes planning estimates rather than final 2026–2027 charges. It estimates tuition and miscellaneous fees at about NT$55,000–60,000 per semester for design-related programs, NT$48,000–53,000 for management, law, humanities, and human-ecology programs, and NT$70,000–80,000 for English-taught international programs. The page explicitly says actual fees are governed by the current annual announcement, so students should obtain a program-specific bill before making a financial commitment. The same planning page estimates on-campus dormitory costs at approximately NT$10,000–27,000 per semester, private off-campus rent at NT$8,000–15,000 per month, and ordinary living costs at NT$10,000–15,000 per month. Insurance and program-specific charges may add to the budget. These are estimates, and Taipei and Kaohsiung costs should not be assumed to be identical. The 2026–2027 brochure contains scholarship rules, including tuition-waiver arrangements for qualifying international students. Eligibility, academic and conduct conditions, exclusions for recipients of certain full government scholarships, and payment timing matter: scholarship applicants may need to pay the full bill first, with an award issued later in the semester. For career development, the university’s 2026 Career Taiwan initiative describes counseling, skills training, corporate matching, internships, and employment support for international students interested in working in Taiwan. The university also advertises campus work-study opportunities. These services are useful pathways, not guarantees of an internship, job, salary, or permission to work; international students must separately satisfy Taiwan’s work-permit requirements.