Study Aquaculture in Taiwan — Fully Funded, Dec 1

Taiwan will pay for your aquaculture master’s degree — tuition, flights, dormitory, insurance, textbooks and a monthly stipend of about ₹51,600. The TaiwanICDF International Higher Education Scholarship opens for its 2027 cycle on Tuesday, 1 December 2026, and Indian graduates are on the eligible list. If you hold a B.F.Sc. or a related bachelor’s degree and want to study fish farming abroad without paying for it, this is one of the strongest fully funded options open to Indians right now.

The scholarship is run by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), a foundation under Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 1998 it has partnered with Taiwanese universities through the Taiwan International Cooperation Alliance (TICA) to offer full scholarships to students from partner countries. For 2027, the headline for fisheries graduates is the International Master Program in Aquaculture Technology and Management at National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) — a two-year, English-taught master’s built specifically around aquaculture.

There is one honest catch, and it matters: as of today, 15 November 2026, TaiwanICDF has updated its website to the 2027 dates, but the 2027 guidebook and the 2027 programmes list have not been published yet — the downloads on the official site are still the 2026 versions. The aquaculture programmes in this article are from that published 2026 list, and they have run every year for a decade. Check the official programme page when the 2027 list lands, before you finalise your application.

Key Dates — Taiwan ICDF Scholarship 2027

Milestone	Date
Applications open	Tuesday, 1 December 2026
Application deadline	Monday, 15 March 2027
Embassies send recommended lists to TaiwanICDF	31 March 2027
Results announced	By 10 June 2027 (per the programme guidebook)
Programme starts	September 2027

The window is long — three and a half months — but do not leave it to March. You must apply to the scholarship and separately to the university, and the university’s own admission deadline can fall earlier than 15 March. Scholarship selection and university admission are two independent processes: winning the scholarship does not get you admitted, and admission alone does not mean you have the scholarship.

What the Scholarship Pays

The TaiwanICDF scholarship is genuinely full. According to the programme guidebook, it covers airfare (round-trip, economy class, most-direct route), dormitory housing, tuition fees, credit fees, insurance (the mandatory student safety insurance plus accident and medical cover for the whole programme), textbook costs, and a monthly cash allowance deposited into your local bank account.

Study level	Monthly allowance	Approx. value in rupees*	Maximum award period
Master’s	NT$18,000 / month	about ₹51,600 / month	2 years
Ph.D.	NT$20,000 / month	about ₹57,300 / month	4 years
Bachelor’s	NT$15,000 / month	about ₹43,000 / month	4 years

*Rupee figures are our conversion at the 14 November 2026 rate of about NT$1 = ₹2.87; the allowance is paid in Taiwan dollars, so the rupee value moves with the exchange rate.

One important detail for Indian applicants: the bachelor’s programmes are not open to Indians. The guidebook’s eligible-countries list marks with an asterisk the countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and only applicants from those countries may apply to bachelor’s programmes. India is on the eligible list without an asterisk — so Indians can apply for the master’s and Ph.D. programmes, but not the bachelor’s ones. That is exactly where the aquaculture options sit anyway.

The Aquaculture and Agriculture Programmes

In the published 2026 programme list — 32 English-taught programmes across 20 partner universities — the Agriculture area of study includes three options relevant to fisheries graduates:

Programme	University	Level
International Master Program in Aquaculture Technology and Management	National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU)	Master’s (2 years)
Master Program in Tropical Agriculture	National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST)	Master’s (2 years)
Ph.D. Program in Tropical Agriculture	National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST)	Ph.D.
International Master Program in Agriculture (IMPA)	National Chung Hsing University (NCHU)	Master’s (2 years)

The NTOU aquaculture master’s is the direct hit: a dedicated aquaculture programme at Taiwan’s specialist ocean university, taught entirely in English, with full tuition, dormitory, textbook and air-ticket coverage under the scholarship. NTOU’s admission page notes that applicants for the programme need a language proficiency certificate — Chinese A2 or English B1 (either one) — so an IELTS or TOEFL score, or proof of an English-taught bachelor’s degree, should be in your file. The NPUST tropical agriculture programmes are the fallback if your background leans more towards agriculture and allied production systems, and the NCHU agriculture master’s is a third option in the same area.

Remember the one-programme rule: you may apply to only one programme at one partner university per year, and you cannot change it after submitting. Choose the programme that best matches your degree and your statement of purpose — for a B.F.Sc. graduate, that is almost certainly the NTOU aquaculture master’s.

Who Can Apply — Eligibility at a Glance

Nationality: You must be a citizen of a country on TaiwanICDF’s eligible-countries list. India is listed under Asia Pacific, alongside Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.
Degree: A bachelor’s degree is required for a master’s programme; a master’s degree is required for a Ph.D. programme. You must be able to produce your highest degree diploma before enrolment.
Not a Taiwan national: The scholarships are for foreign nationals only — Taiwan nationals and overseas Chinese students are excluded.
One programme only: A single programme at a single partner university per application cycle.
Language: All ICDF programmes are taught in English. The scholarship itself sets no single English-test rule, but the university may — NTOU asks for Chinese A2 or English B1 level proof for the aquaculture master’s.
Country criteria: You must also satisfy any specific criteria set by your own government — check the instructions of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECO) in India when you apply.

How to Apply — 6 Steps

Pick your one programme now. For fisheries graduates, that is the NTOU International Master Program in Aquaculture Technology and Management. Read its introduction on the official programmes list and on NTOU’s admission page.
Prepare your documents in November. Degree certificates and transcripts, passport, English proficiency proof, a study plan or statement of purpose, recommendation letters and a medical report as the guidebook requires. The 2027 guidebook is still pending, so work from the 2026 guidebook’s document list and re-check it when the new edition appears.
Apply to the university separately. Submit NTOU’s own admission application before its deadline — this is a separate process from the scholarship, and admission is decided by the university.
Apply on the TaiwanICDF online system between 1 December 2026 and 15 March 2027. Create an account on the TaiwanICDF Scholarship Online Application System, enter your data, and confirm it. Once you click “Finish & Print”, you can only view and print your application — so check every field before confirming.
Submit your documents to the Taiwan representative office in India (TECO) as instructed in the guidebook, within the same window. The office does a first review and sends its recommended list to TaiwanICDF by 31 March 2027.
Wait for the result by 10 June 2027. If selected, TaiwanICDF arranges your most-direct economy flights to Taiwan, and the programme starts in September 2027.

What to Watch Out For

The 2027 programme list is not out yet. Everything about the aquaculture programmes above comes from the published 2026 list, which TaiwanICDF is still linking on its 2027 pages. Confirm the NTOU programme is on the 2027 list before you submit.
Two applications, not one. Scholarship application and university admission are separate. Missing the university deadline while holding a scholarship application gets you nowhere.
Allowance figures are from the 2026 guidebook. NT$18,000 a month for a master’s and NT$20,000 for a Ph.D. are the published figures; confirm them in the 2027 guidebook when it appears.
Bachelor’s is closed to Indians. If you are an undergraduate, this scholarship’s bachelor’s programmes are not open to you — aim for it after your bachelor’s degree instead.
No application fee. The TaiwanICDF online application is free — anyone asking for payment to apply is not TaiwanICDF.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Taiwan ICDF scholarship really fully funded?
Yes. It covers round-trip economy airfare, dormitory housing, tuition and credit fees, insurance and textbooks, plus a monthly allowance — NT$18,000 a month for a master’s student, about ₹51,600 at current rates.

Can Indian students apply?
Yes. India is on TaiwanICDF’s eligible-countries list. Indians can apply for master’s and Ph.D. programmes; the bachelor’s programmes are restricted to applicants from countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which excludes India.

Which aquaculture programme should a B.F.Sc. graduate pick?
The International Master Program in Aquaculture Technology and Management at National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) — a two-year, English-taught master’s. You may apply to only one programme per year, so pick this one rather than spreading applications.

Do I need IELTS?
TaiwanICDF itself does not set a single English-test rule, but NTOU asks aquaculture master’s applicants for Chinese A2 or English B1 level proof — an IELTS/TOEFL score or evidence of an English-taught degree. Check NTOU’s current admission page for the exact requirement.

When will I know the result?
TaiwanICDF announces results by 10 June 2027, according to the programme guidebook. The programme itself starts in September 2027.

Is the 2027 programme list final?
Not yet published. As of 15 November 2026, the official site links the 2026 guidebook and 2026 programmes list, with only the web-page text updated to the 2027 dates. Confirm the NTOU programme on the 2027 list before submitting.

Why This One Deserves Your December

Most fully funded aquaculture scholarships Indian graduates chase — Erasmus Mundus, Commonwealth, Wageningen — close between December and February and take hundreds of applicants per seat. TaiwanICDF opens on 1 December 2026 and runs to 15 March 2027, pays a monthly stipend on top of full costs, and includes a programme built specifically for aquaculture at a specialist ocean university. The application costs nothing, the window is long, and the preparation — documents, English proof, a sharp study plan — is the same file you will need for every other scholarship in the same season. Prepare it once, and this is the first door it opens.

Images in this article are illustrations. All dates, allowances and programme details were verified against the official TaiwanICDF programme pages and the 2026 application guidebook on 15 November 2026; the 2027 guidebook and programme list had not been published at that date — confirm current details on the official pages before applying.