MOST Overseas Scholarship Guide (1): Eligibility and How to Apply

The MOST Overseas Project for PhD Research — commonly known as 千里馬 (Qiānlǐmǎ, literally “Thoroughbred Horse”) — is a funding scheme for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. The formal name is the Ministry of Science and Technology Overseas Project for Post Graduate Research. If you’re awarded the grant, you receive up to NTD 900,000 per year from the government to conduct research at universities or research institutions around the world. This series of articles walks you through how to apply. This first post covers eligibility, the application process, required documents, and things to watch out for.

What Is the 千里馬 Program?

Once you’re in a PhD program, you’ll inevitably hear faculty and classmates mention 千里馬. But what exactly is it, and why should you apply?

As described above, 千里馬 is an overseas research program open to doctoral students currently enrolled and to postdoctoral researchers. The English name is Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Overseas Project for Post Graduate Research (this English title appears to cover both PhD students and postdocs).

Successful applicants receive funding to cover research and living expenses abroad, calculated at a base rate of NTD 900,000 per year.

Think about it: a full year doing research at a world-class institution, with government support to fund it. It’s absolutely worth pursuing.

My sincere recommendation: if you meet the eligibility criteria, please apply. The paperwork itself isn’t that complicated, but coordinating with both domestic and overseas professors through multiple rounds of correspondence takes considerable time. I’d suggest starting to prepare at least a year before the application deadline.

How to Apply (Based on the 2020 Application Cycle)

The program runs annually — even in 2020, when COVID-19 forced most awardees to defer, new applications for the following year were still accepted.

Applications typically open June 1 and close July 31 (note: your institution may have an earlier internal deadline). Results are announced in late November or early December. Successful applicants can begin their research abroad the following year.

For example: if I applied before July 2020 and was announced as an awardee in late November 2020, I could depart for research in 2021.

Eligibility

As of the application deadline, applicants must meet all of the following:

(i) Must meet all of the following conditions, assessed as of the application closing date.

1. Must be a citizen of the Republic of China (Taiwan) with household registration in Taiwan.
2. Must be currently enrolled in a doctoral program at a public or private university in Taiwan for at least one year.
3. Must have been nominated by the recommending institution and must be able to complete the overseas research before graduation.
   (ii) Previous recipients of this subsidy are not eligible to apply.

In plain terms: you must be in at least your second year of a doctoral program (satisfying the “one year or more” requirement), you cannot graduate during the funded period, and crucially — you need to secure a nomination from your home institution. More on that last point below.

Also important: the institution you apply to must be an overseas academic research institution capable of supervising doctoral research. Institutions in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau are excluded.

Duration and Funding Amount

The funded period must be between seven months and one year, counted from the date you arrive at the overseas institution.

The full-year rate is NTD 900,000. For stays shorter than a year, the amount is prorated: (total days abroad minus total days of approved leave) ÷ 365 × 900,000.

For example, if I spent 300 days abroad after deducting approved leave: 900,000 × (300/365) = NTD 739,726.

So yes, you can take leave — but the total days returning to Taiwan cannot exceed 30 days, and those days are unpaid. If your leave exceeds 30 days or your time abroad falls below 180 days, you’ll be required to return all the funding. Be careful.

Note: a pregnancy clause was added to recent editions of the program. Check the official guidelines for details.
2020 (FY110) MOST PhD Overseas Research Program Official Page

Application Procedure

The application is entirely online. Go to http://www.most.gov.tw, create an account, and submit your application through the Academic Research and Development Services portal. The application window is June 1 to July 31 at 12:00 noon each year. However, your institution will likely have an earlier internal deadline to allow time to process documents — check with your department’s administrative office.

Required Documents

The list isn’t short, and several items require advance preparation. I recommend starting at least six months to a year before the application deadline. Here’s what was required (based on the 2020 cycle):

1. Proof of foreign language proficiency: In the 2020 cycle (applying in 2020/FY109 for 2021 departure), there was no expiry limit on test scores. This means TOEFL, TOEIC, GEPT, and similar certificates remained valid even if they were past their usual validity period. Check the current year’s requirements for the accepted tests — the test generally needs to cover all four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing).

2. Letter of acceptance from the overseas institution or overseas supervisor (with original signature): This is the single most important — and most time-consuming — document in the entire application. The reason I recommend starting a year in advance is precisely because of this: you need to find an overseas professor or institution willing to accept you, and receive a formal letter of acceptance, before you can officially submit your application. I’ll write about how to approach overseas professors in the next post.

3. Proof of doctoral student status from your department head or supervisor: There’s an online form for this — it certifies that you are a PhD student at X university, X department. Straightforward.

4. Recommendation letter from your department head or doctoral supervisor: Give your supervisor as much notice as possible. The process is: you contact your supervisor first, then your supervisor submits the letter. I’ll say more about this in the next post.

5. Official transcripts from your undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs

6. Overseas Research Proposal (max 20 pages A4, max 5MB file, must be in Chinese or English), including:

   1. Abstract of the proposed overseas research
   2. Your research and professional experience and achievements in the past five years (list concrete facts: research results, outstanding performance, awards, etc. If you gave birth during this period, the window may be extended to seven years; if you completed compulsory military service, the window can be extended accordingly, with supporting documentation)
   3. Background, objectives, research methodology, and significance of the proposed research
   4. Relevance of the overseas institution (and supervisor) to your research goals
   5. Expected outcomes and their relationship to your future research trajectory

7. At least one published academic work (minimum one piece, max 40 pages A4, max 10MB)

The hardest item on this list is undoubtedly #2. I was lucky — I found an overseas supervisor relatively quickly. But some of my senior labmates spent a long time going back and forth on correspondence. Please start early.

By now, I hope you have a clear picture of what 千里馬 is and how to apply. In the next posts in this series, I’ll cover how to write to an overseas professor to request a letter of acceptance, how to put together your research proposal, and eventually the pre-departure and post-arrival reporting process.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment anytime. 🙂

Thanks for reading :D

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