2027 Overseas Talent Excellence Department Certification Program: Focusing on “Departments,” Not Universities… Efforts Underway to Identify Departments with Education Linked to Local Industries and Proven Track Records in Employment and Retention

The Ministry of Education plans to launch a new “Certification System for Outstanding Departments Attracting International Talent” starting in 2027, which will develop high-quality curricula linked to local industries and identify departments that have successfully facilitated local employment and settlement among international students. While the existing Internationalization Capacity Certification System has evaluated universities’ internationalization strategies and their capacity to support and manage international students at the institutional level, the new system will focus on individual “departments.”

However, as of September 11, 2026, only the general direction of the policy has been disclosed. Detailed information necessary for the actual certification process—such as department-specific evaluation metrics and scoring criteria, application procedures, the list of eligible departments, and certification results—has not yet been released.

Existing Certification Focuses on “Universities,” New Plan Focuses on “Departments”

One of the notable changes in the Innovation Strategy for Cultivating International Student Talent, announced by the Ministry of Education on September 8, 2026, is the plan to refine the unit of certification down to the department level.

The current Internationalization Capacity Certification System evaluates universities with 20 or more enrolled international students that apply for the program, assessing their internationalization strategies, support for international students, and management practices. Evaluations are conducted every four years.

In other words, the core focus of the current system is on the university-wide education and management system for international students rather than on individual majors.

In contrast, the “Certification System for Departments Excelling in Overseas Talent,” which the Ministry of Education has announced it will launch in 2027, designates “departments” as the unit of evaluation. The announcement outlines a plan to identify departments that operate high-quality curricula linked to local industries and demonstrate success in helping international students secure local employment and settle in the region, linking this recognition to financial support and scholarship allocations.

From the perspective of international students, this creates the possibility of establishing a policy framework that allows them to examine not only the university’s reputation but also the educational content of their specific major and its connection to local industries.

How Do the Existing University-Level System and the Planned Department-Level System Differ?

These two systems cannot be viewed simply as a hierarchical ranking. The most obvious difference evident in publicly available data is the focus and unit of evaluation. While the existing system assesses university-level internationalization strategies and support and management systems for international students, the new plan aims to separately examine the educational programs of specific departments and their connections to local industries, employment, and residency.

For International Students, Information May Become More Granular—Shifting from “Which University?” to “Which Department?”

When international students choose a university, the curriculum and post-graduation career prospects can vary depending on their major, even within the same university. If the Certification System for Departments Excelling in Attracting Overseas Talent is implemented as planned, information allowing students to assess not only the university’s overall internationalization capabilities but also the specific characteristics of individual departments is likely to become available.

In particular, the Ministry of Education’s announcement that the new certification system will identify departments that offer high-quality curricula linked to regional industries and demonstrate success in helping international students find local employment and settle in the area is significant for students choosing their majors.

Once the detailed criteria and certification results are made public, international students are expected to be able to look beyond mere certification status to verify which local industries a department is connected to, what curriculum it offers to international students, and the criteria and methods used to evaluate its employment and settlement outcomes.

However, based solely on the currently available announcement materials, it is unclear to what extent this information will actually be disclosed. It also remains unconfirmed whether evaluation results or detailed indicators for each department will be made public.

“Regional Employment and Settlement Outcomes” Does Not Mean Guaranteed Employment

In the Ministry of Education’s announcement, regional employment and settlement were presented as key policy directions for the new accreditation system. However, this should not be interpreted to mean that enrolling in a specific department guarantees employment or settlement in the region.

The information currently available outlines a policy plan to identify departments demonstrating achievements in regional employment and settlement and to link them with support measures. It has not been announced as a system that guarantees individual international students’ employment, residency, or settlement after graduation.

Therefore, even if certified departments are disclosed in the future, applicants should not equate certification status with actual employment prospects; rather, they need to separately verify the publicly available information, such as the major’s curriculum and its connections to local industries.

Linking Financial Support and Scholarship Allocations Is Also in the “Planning” Stage

The Ministry of Education has also indicated its intention to link financial support and scholarship allocations to departments identified as “Outstanding Departments for Overseas Talent.”

As of September 11, 2026, this is still at the stage where the policy direction to link financial support and scholarship allocations has been proposed. Therefore, at this stage, it cannot be concluded that specific departments will receive financial support or that incoming students in those departments will receive scholarship benefits.

From the applicants’ perspective, if additional official materials regarding the “Outstanding Departments for Overseas Talent” certification system are released in the future, they should verify how actual certification and support are linked.

What Cannot Be Confirmed at This Time

Based solely on the Ministry of Education materials released as of September 11, 2026, the following details cannot be confirmed:

• Specific evaluation criteria and point allocations for each category under the “Outstanding Departments for International Talent” program
• Application procedures
• List of departments eligible for certification
• Actual certification results

Therefore, there is currently no basis for identifying specific universities or departments as candidates for the “Outstanding Departments for International Talent” program or for predicting their future certification prospects.

The Ministry of Education’s materials indicate a plan to sequentially implement related policies, including the announcement of the Basic Plan for the 5th Cycle of the Education Internationalization Capacity Certification System in the second half of the year. To assess the practical applicability of the “Outstanding Departments for International Talent” certification system, it will be necessary to review additional official materials released regarding this system in the future.

The Information to Consider When Choosing a Major May Change

If the “Outstanding Departments for International Talent” certification system is implemented as planned and the relevant information is made public, it could introduce new comparison criteria for international students when selecting a university.

While current university-level certification information is useful for assessing a university’s overall internationalization strategy and its support and management environment for international students, the new department-level system is likely to be used to examine how one’s actual major connects to the local industry.

However, the system is currently only at the stage where its general direction has been announced. While the target implementation date of 2027 and the policy direction of “department-level accreditation” have been disclosed, there are still no finalized public standards regarding the specific criteria to be used or the exact information to be provided.

What international students need is not to speculate in advance about accreditation results that do not yet exist, but rather to verify—once detailed criteria are released—how curriculum, links to local industries, employment, and settlement outcomes will be defined and evaluated. Only when these details are clarified will it be possible to compare a university’s internationalization capabilities and the characteristics of individual majors using distinct sets of data.