wfn.org | Taiwan's Methodist Graduate School of Theology Obtains Accreditation

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Taiwan Church News 2755, 13 to 19 December 2004
Reported by Gu Hao-jan.  Trans. & rewritten by David Alexander

Established only five years ago, the Methodist Graduate School of Theology
(MGST) in Taipei received accreditation of its programmes from both the Asia
Theological Association (ATA) and the Association for Theological Education
in
South East Asia (ATESEA) this fall.

MGST president Dai Chun-nan said, "The ATA has accepted this school as a full
member. A month ago a team conducted an evaluation and were satisfied with
what they found. They have accredited our Ph.D, D.Min., M.Th., M.Div., Master
of Arts in Pastoral Counseling, Master of Biblical Studies and other degree
programmes. We just received the formal letter of accreditation.  The ATA
also
currently accredits three other seminaries in Taiwan: Sheng-kuang, Chung-tai
and China Evangelical.

As far as negotiations with the ATESEA go, he said that his school had been
informally notified of acceptance, but the formal letter had not yet been
received.  ATESEA accredits four theological schools associated with the
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. Its accreditation teams also visited Taiwan
Baptist Theological Seminary and the Adventist Bible College in October.

Dr. Dai is especially proud of his school's specialist programme in pastoral
counseling, which has been acclaimed in Asia and around the world.  MGST has
been asked to offer the programme in an English Language medium of
instruction
so that students from around the region might benefit from it.	In order to
create a professional environment for pastoral counseling in this nation,
MGST
is an active participant in the establishment of the Taiwan Association of
Pastoral Counselors.

A professional association is needed, he said, because currently regulations
on "hanging out a shingle" as a counselor require that one hold a government
license. To date the licensing authorities have refused to accept theological
seminary training as applicable towards the academic requirements for the
license. Only training received in government recognized schools (which rules
out most of Taiwan's Bible colleges and seminaries) can be applied towards
acceptance into the scheme by which one is examined for a license. When a
professional pastoral care association is established then there will be an
alternative avenue for those called to the ministry of counseling to obtain
certification and supervision.

The "association in formation" is intended to be ecumenical.  Its preparatory
committee includes both Protestant and Roman Catholic members.	Legal matters
of setting up an association take time, but Dr. Dai expects that the basic
charter can be obtained by April. Then programme design and implementation
will be followed by training and the eventual issuing of certificates in
coming years. Pastoral counselors will eventually be available to churches
and
other service agencies.

For More Information: www.mgst.org.tw
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