Academics

The structure of the Taiwan Capstone Year has been thoughtfully designed to help Flagship students reach their academic and professional goals.

Combining intensive language instruction and cultural immersion, The Language Flagship is a leader in educating American undergraduate students in languages critical to U.S. National Security. Capstone students are outstanding American undergraduates, from eight universities across the U.S., who excel in Mandarin and a professional domain.

Having completed the rigorous domestic training with a variety of courses, programs, and extracurricular activities to ensure students gain exceptional proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, the Capstone Year is the final component in attaining superior professional fluency in Chinese.

Courses

Semester 2

  • In-Service Internship (6 credits)
  • Media in Contemporary Chinese Societies (3 credits)
  • Social and Political Affairs Studies in Chinese (3 credits)

Tutoring Support

Tutoring support is an important feature of the Taiwan Capstone Year where students can make important linguistic breakthroughs in this highly individualized instructional format. Among other things, students can learn four-character idioms, discover the appropriate way to draft a research paper, and ask questions about the topics most important to them. There will be weekly one-on-one tutoring, which will be scheduled with tutors.

General Language Tutoring

For general language tutoring, students can choose which linguistic areas they want to focus on. During the language practicum weeks, students will receive tutoring to practice language, with a focus on superior-level tasks. To give Capstone students the support they need to build academic and professional-level proficiency, they will receive tutoring in their domain. Tutors will help students read and comprehend their direct enrollment class materials and acquire domain terminologies. The goal is to help students dive more deeply into their domain studies and be successful in their direct enrollment classes. During the semester of the internship period, students who will be interning at a provider related to their major domain may request to receive tutoring in order to be best prepared linguistically and culturally for the professional environment of their internships.

Credits & Transcripts

The Capstone Year Program at The Chinese Flagship Overseas Capstone Program in Taiwan is designed so students who complete all aspects of the program will earn 24 credits. The credits are broken down as follows:

First Semester:

  • Course 1: Intercultural Communications in Great China -- 3 credits
  • Course 2: Chinese for Professional Purposes -- 3 credits
  • Course 3: NCCU Direct Enrollment Class -- 3 credits
  • Course 4: Domain Research Independent Project in Chinese -- 3 credits

Second Semester:

  • In-Service Internship -- 6 credits
  • Media in Contemporary Chinese Societies -- 3 credits
  • Social and Political Affairs Studies in Chinese -- 3 credits

PLEASE NOTE: A student may not need all 24 credits in order to graduate. In this instance, the student can choose to only transfer the fall semester credits to their home institution. The student is required to take 12 credits in the spring semester, but they don't have to transfer over the credits if they are unnecessary.

Students who want to find out if Capstone Year classes will affect their GPA or if their home university offers a pass/fail option for study abroad credits should speak with their home university’s Chinese Flagship program coordinator and/or study abroad office. (Pass/fail is not an option for Hunter College Flagship students.)

Transcripts

Transcripts for the Chinese Flagship Overseas Capstone Program in Taiwan can be issued in two ways.

If a student’s home university will accept a transcript from a foreign university, the student can receive a transcript directly from NCCU.

If a student’s home university requires a transcript from a U.S. institution, Hunter College will process the NCCU transcript and issue one from Hunter College. Students who have a transcript receipt deadline in order to graduate by a certain time should note that that it may take Hunter College as long as three months to process the NCCU transcript.

PLEASE NOTE: Different universities have different rules about which transcripts they will accept and how credits and grades affect GPA. International institutions are accepted at most American universities, but only if they meet strict accreditation standards. Students should speak to their home school’s Flagship program coordinator and/or study abroad office to find out their institution’s rules.

Educational Excursions

Exploring Taiwanese Aboriginal Culture

In the past, students visited the aboriginal Atayal Tribe community near Taipei. Students worked with the community to design a plan to connect Taiwanese aboriginal culture with the world. In doing this project, students utilized their professional knowledge from their different academic majors to contribute to it. Recent educational excursions also include cultural and historical trips to Tainan and Chiayi, Hualian, and Yilan.

To see what the Taiwan Program first cohort's aboriginal excursion was like, please watch these videos of their trip:

Certifications

To receive Language Flagship certification, the students must complete the exit proficiency assessment which will be held during the last week of the Capstone Year, immediately after the four-week long Superior-Level Chinese Language Practicum.

Flagship Certificate:

  • Students who meet the minimum levels (speaking, ILR level 3; listening, ILR level 2+; reading, ILR level 2+) will receive Flagship Certification
  • Students who have achieved ILR level 3 in speaking, listening, and reading will receive the Flagship Certification with Distinction

Certificates will be issued by The Language Flagship and emailed to each domestic program for distribution.