About Yushan

Goal

The Yushan Fellow Program is created with the purpose of assisting Taiwan’s higher education institutions attract top-notch international academics and offers internationally competitive salaries and benefits. It aims to strengthen Taiwan’s academic expertise and the international standing of Taiwan’s higher education.

Application Procedure

ELIGIBILITY

Yushan Fellow
Applicants must meet one of the following criteria

◆ Worked at a leading international research institution or internationally renowned company for at least 10 years, distinguished in the international academic community or acquired world-leading expertise in a core technology, and experienced in leading academic or industrial research teams.
◆ Recipient of a Nobel Prize, fellow of a national level academy, fellow of a major international association, or received equivalent recognition.
◆ Outstanding contribution to area of academic or industrial expertise in the past 5 years.

Yushan Young Fellow

Applicants must have received their highest academic qualification within the last 10 years or be under 45 years old and meet one of the following criteria:
◆ Worked at a leading international research institution or internationally renowned company for at least 5 years and demonstrated great potential.
◆ Experience conducting major research projects.
◆ Exceptional contribution to area of academic expertise in the past 5 years.

Global Outstanding Talent： refers to any scholar who meets one of the criteria for Yushan Fellows and Yushan Young Fellows while not passing the review. However, the scholar still demonstrates good potential and is thus hired by the institution and received the flexible salary from Higher Education SPROUT Project or other self-raised funds.

Notes:
1.Yushan Fellows and Yushan Young Fellows must not be current tenure faculty (not including personnel whose service duration is less than one year) or retirees at universities or academic research institutions and must not apply for subsidies (flexible salaries) provided by the Ministry of Education (MOE).
2.The host institution will submit the application to the Ministry of Education on behalf of the applicant. Please consult your host institution for internal deadline.
3.Many of the most common questions we get are addressed in our Frequently Asked Questions pages. Please look through the FAQ page.

Subsidy Item

●Yushan Fellow

1) Yushan Fellows may receive an additional annual salary allowance of up to NT$5 million on a three-year basis. Fellows for short-term exchange are granted per-diem (additional to statutory salary) proportionally according to their service period.

2) Yushan Fellows may receive academic collaboration and administrative expenses of up to NT$1.5 million on a three-year basis. The fee can be used for teaching, research, international academic collaboration, and work by a fellow to execute his/her plan. Where personnel expenses are involved (such as salaries for administrative assistants, postdoctoral research fellows, or part-time assistants, etc.), the expenses shall be handled according to the standards set by each institution, and the reimbursement shall be made after the claims are verified.

3) 20% of the academic collaboration and administrative expenses (to be calculated based on the total amount approved for each institution) may be allocated as capital account.

4) The per-diem of Yushan Fellows on a short-term exchange program is calculated proportionally according to their service duration in Taiwan, but the subsidy amount for academic collaboration and administrative expenses and the expenditure period are not limited to their time in Taiwan.

●Yushan Young Fellows

1) Yushan Young Fellows may receive an additional annual salary allowance of up to NT$1.5 million on a five-year basis.

2) Yushan Young Fellows may receive academic collaboration and administrative expenses of up to NT$1.5 million on a five-year basis. The fee can be used for teaching, research, international academic collaboration, and work by a fellow to execute his/her plan. Where personnel expenses are involved (such as salaries for administrative assistants, postdoctoral research fellows, or part-time assistants, etc.), the expenses shall be handled according to the standards set by each school, and the reimbursement shall be made after the claims are verified.

3) 20% of the academic collaboration and administrative expenses (to be calculated based on the total amount approved for each institution) may be allocated as capital account.

●Global Outstanding Talents

1) MOE selects excellent institutions based on factors such as their supportive benefits and the relevance between the institutions’ recruitment and their school development. The selected institutions will then be granted academic collaboration and administrative expenses on an annual basis by MOE, and may allocate such fundings among the scholars within their school. The allocations can be used for teaching, research, international academic collaboration, and work by a fellow to execute his/her plan. Where personnel expenses are involved (such as salaries for administrative assistants, postdoctoral research fellows, or part-time assistants, etc.), the expenses shall be handled according to the standards set by each school, and the reimbursement shall be made after the claims are verified.

2) The above-mentioned fees are calculated based on the total amount of subsidy received by the institution, and 20% is allocated as capital account.

The other types of fees and expenses should be handled according to the directions for MOE subsidies and funding and the stipulation for central government expenses.

Review Criteria

●Quota Allocation Mechanism

1. For institutions receiving Part I (implementing teaching innovation, developing university features, enhancing higher education publicity, fulfilling university social responsibility, and making resources more public) subsidy of more thanNT$50 million under the Higher Education SPROUT Project, their allocated quota units shall correspond to the class they belong to, which is determined according to the ratio of each discipline within Part I and research centers under Part II of the Higher Education SPROUT Project. Quota units for the other institutions will be approved on an annual basis according to the MOE policy.
2. The above-mentioned quota units are calculated as follows: Yushan Fellows are considered one unit, whereas Yushan Young Fellows are considered one-third of a unit.
3. Institutions not applying for this program in the current year will be deemed to have given up their quota. For institutions whose applications are rejected by MOE, their quota units will not be returned.
4. Yushan (Young) Fellows who have applied for a subsidy renewal can be excluded from the quota to be allocated by MOE for the year.

●Review Process

1. Applications are reviewed once a year following the academic year schedule.
2. A review committee is established with one convener designated for each of the six academic fields (i.e., humanities and arts, social sciences, science, medicine, engineering, and agriculture and life sciences). Conveners shall recommend reviewers and expert fellows from their fields to perform anonymous review of the applications.

●Review Criteria

1. Experience and achievements of the candidate the institution proposes to appoint (including significant academic contributions, academic awards received, crucial research findings, curriculum vitae, and publications; Yushan Fellows must provide a list of their publications in recent ten years and Yushan Young Fellows must provide a list of their publications in the past five years).

2. The proposed appointee's future academic work, its relevance to the institution's development (including Higher Education SPROUT Project) as well as the expected benefits of his/her work, which can be categorized as follows:
(1) The fellow's academic work plans and associated goals
(2) The fellow's academic work and its relevance to the institution's development (including Higher Education SPROUT Project)
(3) The fellow's specific approach to their academic work
(4) Implementation plan and approach for the tasks required (choose at least two tasks) set forth in point III in these Guidelines
(5) Expected benefits (expected quantitative or qualitative results)

3.　Supportive measures and arrangements provided by the institutions (e.g., research expenses and equipment, personnel expenses for research assistants, accommodation and relocation expenses, and assistance with children's education; these expenses can be paid with self-raised funds by the university or with subsidies by government agencies). Any related supportive measures implemented in collaboration with enterprises, such as laboratory facilities, co-established research and development teams or funding, shall be explained in detail.
4.　Reasonableness of the provision of salaries and benefits (e.g., the evaluation method for institutions’ application for MOE's subsidy on additional salary and administrative and operating expenses; the institutions are required to provide details on the provision of statutory salary).
5.　Team collaboration and planning (if a Yushan Fellow is appointed, he or she should form a research team with teaching and research members at the institution; the team must include one or more staff members at or below the associate professor or postdoctoral research fellows from the institution) (Not applicable to Yushan Young Fellows).

●Passing Criteria

Regarding the academic capacity required to pass the review, a Yushan Fellow should have the ability to win the "Academic Award" from MOE; a Yushan Young Fellow should have the ability or potential to win the “Ta-You Wu Memorial Award” from the National Science and Technology Council. Moreover, a Yushan Fellow who has made significant contributions to the industrial research and development must possess the ability to win the “National Award for Distinguished Contribution to Industry-Academia Cooperation” from MOE and meet one of the following requirements:

1. His or her professional competencies should be "internationally competitive" or have significant nationwide influence on the industrial development.

2. His or her professional competencies can be combined and leveraged with the particular advantages of the institution or the region. Cooperation with the industry (enterprises) under the supportive measures provided by the institution is required.

Review Method

◆ Program Schedule: subsidies are approved every three years for Yushan Fellows and every five years for Yushan Young Fellows. Both are allowed to apply for a subsidy renewal (one time only) upon expiration of the implementation period.

◆ Yushan (Young) Fellows who are funded by this program should submit the required reports according to the following schedule:
1. Annual performance report: Annual performance reports should be submitted and uploaded to the Yushan Fellow Program website.
2. Mid-term report: Yushan Fellows should submit their mid-term reports at the end of the first year of implementation. Yushan Young Fellows should submit their mid-term reports at the end of the second year of implementation. Mid-term reports can be submitted together with the annual performance reports.
3. Final report: Yushan Fellows and Yushan Young Fellows may submit their final reports together with the renewal application six months before expiration of the program period; Yushan (Young) Fellows who do not intend to apply for a renewal should submit their final reports upon expiration of the program period.

◆ Global Outstanding Talents shall submit their annual reports through their institution after expiration of the program period for the current year.

◆ Report Review Process:
1. Annual performance reports that have passed the administrative review will be published on the Yushan Fellow Program website.
2. A review committee will be established to review the mid-term reports. A convener and several reviewers will be designated for each of the six academic fields (i.e., humanities and arts, social sciences, science, medicine, engineering, and life science and agriculture) under the committee.
3. Final reports, together with the renewal application, will be sent by MOE to the conveners of various review committee groups for review. Final reports from the Yushan (Young) Fellows and Global Outstanding Talents who do not intend to apply for a renewal shall be handled in accordance with the review process for annual performance reports.
4. The review focuses on the research, teaching, and service performance of fellows, as well as the the effectiveness of implementing the targets specified in the institution’s application plan and its supportive measures.

◆ Report Review Results:
1. Mid-term report: For Yushan (Young) Fellows who fail to meet the anticipated targets, relevant improvements will be required based on the reviewers' comments. The implementation of such improvements should be examined as one of the review criteria during the assessment of the final report and renewal application review. It will also be taken into consideration by MOE in future quota allocation to the institution and in adjusting the subsidy to be granted to the institution for the remaining term.
2. Final report: For Yushan (Young) Fellows who submit their final reports along with their renewal application, review results of which will be taken as a reference by MOE when determining the funding for the subsequent term, which shall be done three months before expiration of the current term. For fellows not applying for a renewal and Global Outstanding Talents, review results of their final reports will be taken as a reference by MOE for future quota allocation to their institutions.