Every other international school in this Kaohsiung guide requires a foreign passport. I-Shou International School does not. It is a Taiwanese private school, and its own admissions pages ask a Taiwanese applicant for a household registration document and a passport copy, nothing more on nationality, so a family holding only ROC nationality can enroll here. For a local family in southern Taiwan who wants an international education without emigrating or holding a second passport, ISIS is the route, and that single fact places it differently from Kaohsiung American School and the city's other foreign schools whatever their merits.
What a family decides here is not whether to attend but which half of the school to join. From Grade 7 ISIS splits into two departments. The International Secondary Department runs the IB Middle Years Programme, then Cambridge IGCSE in Grades 9 and 10, then the IB Diploma, and points at universities abroad. The Secondary Bilingual Department follows Taiwan's national curriculum with strengthened English and points at Taiwanese universities, at roughly half the tuition. That fork, and the fee gap that comes with it, is the real decision, and this guide sets out both sides of it along with the fees the school publishes in full.
The families who ask us about ISIS are mostly Taiwanese families in the south for whom the foreign schools are closed, and their questions are seldom about eligibility. They are about the fork. Whether a child who might study abroad should take the international track from Grade 7, what the IB Diploma demands after an IGCSE start, and whether the national track with strengthened English is enough for a child who later changes direction. The fee difference makes the choice heavier: the international track costs roughly twice the national one, so a family is weighing money against a pathway before the child is old enough to have settled on either.
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. What we see is that the international track asks for academic English quickly, since the entrance test covers English and Chinese and the IB expects writing and analysis across subjects, while the national track asks a child to hold real English alongside a demanding Taiwanese curriculum. Preparing a child for either, and keeping both languages strong so the fork stays open as long as possible, is the work we do.
The orienting facts, each drawn from the school's own materials and checked in September 2026. Figures are the school's own, in New Taiwan dollars.
ISIS is a private, MOE-registered Taiwanese school founded by the founder of I-Shou University, and it sits beside the university campus in Dashu District, though it is a separate institution from the university. It is an authorized IB World School for the Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma programmes, delivers Cambridge IGCSE, and is accredited by the Council of International Schools. It teaches bilingually, with English as the core language of instruction and Chinese studied by every student. And it publishes its fees in full, which is why this guide can carry them.
ISIS publishes a full fee schedule, with different rates for its two tracks. Tuition is billed per semester and the annual figure is double the rate shown. The tables below are the school's own, in New Taiwan dollars, for the 2026 to 2027 year.
The international track costs roughly twice the national one at the same grade, and the difference widens through the senior years, so the fork at Grade 7 is a financial decision as much as an academic one. Tuition includes lunch in most grades, though senior international and national students eat at the neighboring university food court and are not charged for lunch in tuition.
Billed each semester. Annual is double. Includes tuition, miscellaneous fees, and lunch in most grades.
| Grade and track | Per semester | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Grades 1 to 3 | NT$194,250 | NT$388,500 |
| Grades 4 to 5 | NT$196,875 | NT$393,750 |
| Grades 6 to 8, international | NT$249,165 | NT$498,330 |
| Grade 9, IGCSE | NT$258,940 | NT$517,880 |
| Grade 10, IGCSE | NT$289,760 | NT$579,520 |
| Grades 11 to 12, IB Diploma | NT$292,970 | NT$585,940 |
| Grades 7 to 9, national track | NT$150,990 | NT$301,980 |
| Grades 10 to 12, national track | NT$170,205 | NT$340,410 |
Source: the school's 2026 to 2027 fee schedule. Checked September 2026. A 2025 to 2026 schedule is also published on the school's site, so a family should confirm it is reading the current year.
| Item | Amount | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Application fee | NT$3,000 | Per child, non-refundable, paid with the application |
| Boarding, per semester | NT$62,000 to NT$135,000 | Grades 6 to 12, by days boarded. Breakfast and dinner included |
| Boarding deposit | NT$8,000 | Refundable, for medical emergencies |
| Bus, per semester | NT$20,250 to NT$44,500 | By ride frequency |
| Books, uniform | NT$2,000 to NT$30,000, and NT$5,000 to NT$9,000 | Per semester and per set |
| Examination fees | IGCSE NT$3,800, IB Diploma NT$4,600 | Per subject entered |
| Experiential trips | NT$15,000 to NT$200,000 | On-island or overseas, by trip |
| Sibling discount | Offered, amount not published | Families with two or more children. Ask the school |
For a new Grade 11 student on the IB Diploma in 2026 to 2027, tuition of NT$585,940 for the year plus the one-time application fee of NT$3,000 comes to NT$588,940 before books, uniform, examination entries, and any boarding or bus. The same year on the national track costs NT$340,410 in tuition, a difference of about NT$245,000. These totals are Harland's arithmetic on the school's own figures, shown so a family can weigh the two tracks on the real numbers.
| Grades served | Preschool from age two, then kindergarten to Grade 12, on one campus in Dashu District |
|---|---|
| Enrollment | About 600 from kindergarten to Grade 12, the school's own approximate figure. No exact dated count is published |
| International track | IB Primary Years to Grade 5, Middle Years Grades 6 to 10, Cambridge IGCSE Grades 9 to 10, IB Diploma Grades 11 to 12 |
| National track | Taiwan's national curriculum with strengthened English, Grades 7 to 12, with a small-class university preparation stream from Grade 10 |
| Language model | Bilingual, English as the core language of instruction, Chinese studied by all. Primary pairs an overseas and a local homeroom teacher |
| Accreditation | Authorized IB World School for the Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma programmes. Cambridge IGCSE. Accredited by the Council of International Schools. MOE registered |
| Admissions | Year round, with January or February recommended for a September start. Interview and entrance test. Waiting list where a year group is full |
| Class size | Capped at 25, with a stated ratio of six students to a teacher |
| Eligibility | Open to Taiwanese nationals. Non-Taiwanese applicants add a resident certificate, authenticated transcripts, and health insurance |
| Boarding | Seven-day boarding, Grades 6 to 12, on campus |
Where a row gives an approximate figure, that is the school's own approximation. Recruitment and directory sites publish different enrollment and staff counts. None is the school's own, and this guide follows the school.
ISIS exists because the founder of I-Shou University wanted the education he had built at university level to run all the way down, and the campus reflects that.
The school's own history describes it as the third step in a single vision: a polytechnic founded in 1986, I-Shou University established in 1997, and I-Shou International School founded in 2004, all by the chairman of the E-United Group. The school sits beside the university in Dashu District, in the wider E-DA development, and shares the setting without being part of the university, which is worth keeping straight when reading about it. It became an authorized IB World School across the Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma programmes, applied for Council of International Schools membership in 2013, and was accredited by CIS in 2015.
Its stated mission is to be a bilingual day and boarding school fostering intellectual and personal growth through rigorous inquiry and the development of modern skills, offering multiple pathways for internationally minded learners to become socially responsible global citizens, under the line "making the world a better place, one student at a time." It is governed by an eleven-member board of governors working with the principal and the international headmaster, and its named leadership includes Principal Chien Wei Lee, who joined in 2022 from the National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park, and International Headmaster Matthew Lennon, who oversees the three IB programmes.
Through primary the school runs a single blended program. From Grade 7 it divides into two departments aimed at two different university systems, and understanding that division is the whole of choosing ISIS.
All students from Grade 1 to Grade 6 follow a blended program combining the IB Primary Years Programme with Taiwan's national requirements, taught bilingually with English as the core language of instruction, and with primary classes run by two homeroom teachers, one overseas and one local. From Grade 7 the school splits. The International Secondary Department takes students through the IB Middle Years Programme, then Cambridge IGCSE in Grades 9 and 10, where students take five core subjects and three electives, and then the IB Diploma in Grades 11 and 12, with its Theory of Knowledge course, extended essay, and service requirement, and with two languages always including Chinese and English. The Secondary Bilingual Department follows Taiwan's national curriculum from Grade 7 to Grade 12, with strengthened English and a science and technology program, and a small-class university preparation stream available from Grade 10 for students applying to Taiwanese universities.
Two things follow from that structure. ISIS is the second IB school in Kaohsiung, alongside Kaohsiung American School, and the difference between them is not curriculum but eligibility: KAS requires a foreign passport, ISIS does not, so for a Taiwanese family the IB is available here and not there. And a family choosing between the two departments is choosing a university system, since the international track prepares students for applications abroad while the national track prepares them for Taiwan's own admissions. A student can be strong in either, but the tracks diverge in language, in assessment, and in cost, so the choice is worth making deliberately rather than by default. On support, the school does not publish a formal English-as-an-additional-language program or fee, and instead assesses each student's language level on entry and teaches to that level within the year group.
ISIS publishes its IB results and a long list of university offers, and both are worth reading with attention to what they do and do not say.
The school reports an IB Diploma pass rate of 96 percent, a highest score of 44, 27 percent of its students scoring 36 points or above, and 7 percent placing in the top 5 percent of Diploma students worldwide. Those are strong figures against a global pass rate around 80 percent and a global mean around 30. The caveat is that the school publishes them without tying them to a graduating year, so a family cannot tell which cohort they describe or whether they are a single year or an average across several, and asking the school which year they cover is a fair question.
On destinations, the school publishes named university lists grouped by multi-year periods rather than by class, covering the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, with New York University, University College London, Toronto, Melbourne, the University of Hong Kong, National Chengchi, and National Cheng Kung among them. The school presents these as offers of admission rather than confirmed enrollments, which is the honest framing and the way a family should read them: evidence that the school's graduates compete for places across several systems, not a per-student record or a count of where any single cohort ended up.
Applications are accepted year round and reviewed individually, though the school recommends applying in January or February for a September start, and runs information sessions in those months. A family submits the application with identity documents and the previous two years of transcripts, pays the NT$3,000 application fee, and the child then attends an interview and sits an entrance test. The test varies by age: primary applicants take English, Chinese, and mathematics with an oral interview. Middle years and international senior applicants take English and Chinese with an interview, and national-track senior applicants take a bilingual interview with English, Chinese, and mathematics. Tests run between one and two and a half hours, and an applicant may also be invited to join a class for part of a day. Overseas families can interview online.
Two practical points. Places are limited, since classes are capped at twenty-five, and a child who meets the criteria when a year group is full joins a waiting list and is contacted when a place opens, with a further assessment if a long time has passed. And admission is conditional on more than the test: the school states that a place requires the right age, satisfaction of its criteria, an available seat, fees paid in full, and the parents accepting its terms in writing. The school also states that it does not accept applications through education agencies, so a family should apply directly.
Harland is not a school and does not replace ISIS. We are a 1-on-1 tutoring academy, and we work with Kaohsiung families remotely from Taipei, in the three places the schooling decision creates real work for a family: getting in, the choice at Grade 7, and the senior years.
Yes. ISIS is a Taiwanese private school and admits ROC nationals, asking a Taiwanese applicant for a household registration document and a passport copy. No foreign passport is required, which is what distinguishes it from Kaohsiung's foreign schools, where a family holding only ROC nationality cannot enroll. A non-Taiwanese applicant additionally provides a resident certificate, authenticated transcripts, and health insurance.
From Grade 7 a family chooses between the International Secondary Department, which runs the IB Middle Years Programme, then Cambridge IGCSE in Grades 9 and 10, then the IB Diploma in Grades 11 and 12, and the Secondary Bilingual Department, which follows Taiwan's national curriculum with strengthened English. The first points at universities overseas, the second at Taiwanese universities, and the national track costs roughly half as much.
For 2026 to 2027, tuition is billed per semester and the annual figure is double. The international track runs from NT$194,250 a semester in Grades 1 to 3 to NT$292,970 in the IB Diploma years, so about NT$389,000 to NT$586,000 a year. The national track runs NT$150,990 to NT$170,205 a semester, about NT$302,000 to NT$340,000 a year. The application fee is NT$3,000 and is not refundable. Boarding, buses, books, uniform, and examination fees are extra.
Yes, the full IB continuum: the Primary Years Programme from kindergarten to Grade 5, the Middle Years Programme in Grades 6 to 10, and the Diploma in Grades 11 and 12, alongside Cambridge IGCSE in Grades 9 and 10. That makes it one of two IB schools in Kaohsiung, and the one open to Taiwanese nationals.
Applications are accepted year round, though the school recommends applying in January or February for a September start. A family submits identity documents and the previous two years of transcripts, pays the NT$3,000 fee, and the child sits an interview and entrance test, which covers English and Chinese, with mathematics as well for primary and national-track applicants. Where a year group is full, the child joins a waiting list.
Our Student Coordinator speaks with Kaohsiung families regularly, and can help you think through the choice between the two tracks, what each pathway asks of a child, and how to prepare for the entrance test. We work with families remotely from Taipei. We start by listening.