A guide for families choosing a school in southern Taiwan. The passport rule that decides who may enroll comes first, then four schools compared on what separates them: curriculum, cost, and the character of the place.
Three of the four schools in this guide are foreign schools, licensed by Taiwan under a framework that restricts them to students holding a foreign passport. Kaohsiung American School, Morrison Academy Kaohsiung, and Dominican International School Kaohsiung all require one, so a family holding only ROC nationality cannot enroll at any of them, whatever the school's merits or the child's ability. That rule is set by regulation rather than by the schools, and it decides the shortlist before preference enters.
The fourth school is the answer for those families. I-Shou International School is a Taiwanese private school, open to ROC nationals, and it carries the International Baccalaureate, so a local family in southern Taiwan can reach an international education without a second passport. Once the gate is settled the choice narrows quickly, because these four schools differ more sharply than their shared label suggests: two run the IB, two run Advanced Placement, one is explicitly Christian with a faith-based admissions priority, one is Catholic, and their published costs range from around NT$300,000 to nearly NT$660,000 a year.
Taiwan licenses foreign schools to serve foreign-passport holders, and a school's status decides who may attend it. This is the single most useful table on the page: for many families it removes three of the four options before anything else is considered.
| School | Foreign passport | ROC nationals |
|---|---|---|
| Kaohsiung American SchoolZuoying District | Required | Not eligible |
| Morrison Academy KaohsiungDashe District. A faith-based priority also applies | Required | Not eligible |
| Dominican International School KaohsiungGushan District | Required | Not eligible |
| I-Shou International SchoolDashu District | Welcome, with a resident certificate | Eligible |
Morrison adds a second gate on top of the passport rule: children of missionaries are considered first, children of other Christian workers second, and all other children third. A third-tier family can apply and is considered against the places that remain. Each school's guide states its rule in the school's own wording.
A scan-level comparison across founding date, curriculum, grades, location, and the one feature each school is most distinctive for, with the fees, English support, and admissions basis families ask about most. Each school's full guide carries the deeper picture.
| KAS | Morrison | DISK | I-Shou | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 | 1974 (campus) | 1954 | 2004 |
| Curriculum | US standards, IB MYP and DP | American with AP | American with AP | IB and IGCSE, or Taiwan national |
| Grades | PreK to Grade 12 | K to Grade 12 | Pre-K to Grade 12 | K to Grade 12 |
| Location | Zuoying District | Dashe District | Gushan District | Dashu District |
| Distinctive for | An American diploma school running the IB | Christian mission with a faith-based priority | The city's oldest, Catholic, publishes little | Open to ROC nationals, two tracks from Grade 7 |
| Annual fee | NT$486,300–583,700/yr (per semester ×2), plus US$8,000 capital fee for a new student | NT$458,000–564,000/yr (per semester ×2), before missionary and Christian-worker discounts | Not published | NT$301,980–585,940/yr (per semester ×2), national track low, IB Diploma high |
| English support | Tiered by assessed level, NT$10,000–65,000/sem. English required from Grade 3 | ELL for Grades K to 8, fee applies. Grades 6 to 12 more than one level below are not eligible | Not published. English-medium instruction | No published EAL program or fee. Level assessed on entry and taught to |
| Admissions | Year-round rolling. Placement and English test, NT$5,000 application fee. Foreign passport | Opens 1 November, apply by March. Testing and interview for every family. Foreign passport plus faith priority | Rolling, no published deadline. Test and interview, NT$3,000 fee. Foreign passport | Year-round, January to February advised. Interview and entrance test, NT$3,000 fee. Open to ROC nationals |
| Boarding | None | None at this campus | None | Grades 6 to 12, seven days |
Every figure is the school's own published number, converted to an annual equivalent where a school bills per semester, in New Taiwan dollars unless marked, and checked September 2026. Dominican publishes no fee schedule on its own site, and this guide does not carry the estimates that circulate elsewhere. Kaohsiung American's capital fee is charged in US dollars and falls in the first year on top of tuition. Morrison's published fees are before its missionary and Christian-worker discounts, which reach 60 and 50 percent and change what many of its families pay. I-Shou's range spans its two tracks rather than its grade bands.
Each guide covers one school in depth: curriculum, published fees, admissions, and the families it suits. Listed with the eligibility gate that matters most.
The city's established international school, founded in 1989 by families linked to the American Institute in Taiwan. Despite the name it runs the IB Middle Years Programme and Diploma on US standards, and issues an American diploma. No Advanced Placement on campus.
Read the KAS guide →A small American Christian school, the Kaohsiung campus of a system founded in 1952 for missionary children. Bible and weekly chapel are required of every student, admission runs in faith-based priority tiers, and missionary families receive large fee discounts.
Read the Morrison guide →The city's oldest international school, begun by the Dominican Sisters in 1954 and Catholic in character while open to all faiths. It publishes less about itself than the others, including no fee schedule, so a family should expect to ask the school directly.
Read the DISK guide →The one school here a Taiwanese family can attend, and the only route to the IB for a local-national child in Kaohsiung. From Grade 7 it splits into an international track leading to the IB Diploma and a national track at roughly half the cost.
Read the I-Shou guide →Kaohsiung families face a narrower field than families in Taipei, and the passport rule narrows it further. For a foreign-passport family the question is which of three schools fits, and they differ more than the shared label suggests: a large established school running the IB, a small Christian school running Advanced Placement with a faith-based admissions order, and a small Catholic school that publishes little and expects a conversation. For a Taiwanese family the field is one school, and the question becomes which of its two tracks to take and when to decide.
We work with Kaohsiung families remotely from our base in Taipei, the same way we teach families across roughly eight countries, and Kaohsiung is about ninety minutes away by high-speed rail for a family that prefers some sessions in person. We have no stake in which school a family picks, which is what lets this guide set them side by side plainly. What we help with is the same whichever way a family decides: readiness for an entrance assessment and the academic English these schools assume, and holding a child's English and Chinese steady so the options stay open as long as they can.
Our Student Coordinator speaks with Kaohsiung families about school fit regularly, including schools beyond those we cover here. A short conversation can help narrow the decision before you visit. We work with Kaohsiung families remotely from Taipei.
We cover schools where Harland has helped families navigate the application, transition, or curriculum demands. Kaohsiung coverage stands at four schools, which is the field a family in southern Taiwan realistically weighs. New schools are added as our experience with each one becomes substantive enough to write about honestly. Schools we are not yet ready to cover are not included, and we take no referral or affiliate arrangement with any school in this guide.
Published September 2026 by Harland Academic Leadership. Each individual school guide carries its own update date. We refresh this Kaohsiung index when coverage expands or when school-level facts change materially. School figures are drawn from each school's own published materials, in New Taiwan dollars unless marked, and checked September 2026.