The "Test of Proficiency in Huayu" (TOP), dubbed the Chinese TOEFL, will be administered for the first time in Canada on March 29 for all non-native Chinese speakers wishing to apply for a Taiwanese scholarship, or enroll in one of the colleges and universities in Taiwan, said the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Relations Office in Vancouver.
The registration period of the standardized test will begin on Jan. 14 and end on Feb. 15, the office said in its press release issued on Saturday.
The purpose of the TOP is to assess applicants' Chinese language proficiency and aptitude. The result of the test is an important marker in assessing an applicants' chance at receiving various Taiwanese government-sponsored scholarships and admissions to higher learning institutes in Taiwan.
The office said that TOP test takers will receive discount or special offers when applying for admission to Chinese (Mandarin) Language Centers affiliated with universities in Taiwan by presenting their TOP score report.
Test takers can determine which of the four levels of the test -- beginners, basic, intermediate and advanced -- they wish to take based on the number of hours of Chinese courses in non-Chinese speaking countries they have taken or on how many Chinese characters they recognize.
The examination fee for the beginners level is CDN$18 (NT$582), but the other three levels are each CDN$28, the office said.
The standardized test, which has been available in Taiwan since December 2003, was spearheaded by the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu.
Since last year, the test has been available in seven countries including the US, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and the UK. It will be available for the first time in Canada on March 29.
For more details on the test, check out www.sc-top.or.tw or www.taiwanembassy.org/ca.
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