Winner of the Adult Learners Scholarship 2026

Meet Ming-Yao

Ming-Yao Huang is a 26-year-old medical graduate from Taiwan and the first person in his family to attend university. He completed a dual degree in Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine at China Medical University, where he ranked second in a class of 59, received four Academic Achievement Awards, and was selected for the university hospital's highly competitive, funded Neurology Talent Cultivation Programme.

He describes education as a precious and hard-won opportunity, made possible by his family's sacrifice and trust. Determined to multiply that opportunity, he organised peer study sessions, refined shared coursework resources for classmates, and sang bass in a student choir that performed in hospitals, psychiatric daycare wards, and nursing homes, where he saw music help patients reconnect with those around them. These experiences reinforced his belief that medicine and education should reduce, rather than deepen, the isolation caused by illness.

That conviction ultimately led him to neurology. During a six-week clinical elective at UCL Queen Square and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, he experienced a healthcare environment where every diagnosis became the starting point for deeper scientific inquiry, inspiring him to return to University College London to pursue an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience: Neuromuscular Disease.

Looking ahead, he plans to complete specialist training in neurology followed by a PhD, with the goal of advancing international clinical research and expanding access to emerging gene and disease-modifying therapies.

What study abroad meant for him

Ask Ming-Yao what the hardest part of studying abroad was, and he does not start with essays or entrance requirements. He starts with money, then with people.

The cost came first. "It's really, really expensive," he says, and the response was simply to go looking: he searched for every scholarship he could find and asked friends and seniors who had already made the move to London or elsewhere in Europe. What they told him has stayed with him. If you want to make your dream real, you have to sacrifice something, and for him, that meant time with his family.

That sacrifice stopped being abstract in February, when his grandmother, who lives with the family, had a stroke. She has since recovered well. "I'm quite lucky that I can handle and deal with this and have a very strong connection with my grandma before my journey to London," he says. The financial and the personal turned out to be the same problem seen from two sides: the medical costs on one hand, and the knowledge that going abroad for a year or more means loosening a relationship you cannot pause.

What he was not, notably, was nervous about London itself. He had been there before, on his elective, and he knew exactly what he was walking towards.

His advice for other students

Ming-Yao's advice for anyone who feels stuck is less about logistics than about honesty. He is direct about the pressures he sees around him. Language, money, and family are all real obstacles, he says, but there is another one that is harder to name: the assumption that the path has already been chosen for you.

"In Taiwan, I would say there are so many students, they will become confused, because they don't know: is this right, to go abroad?" Beneath that decision, he suggests, lies a more important question: are you choosing a programme because it is genuinely what you want, or because society or your family expects you to become a certain kind of person?

For him, studying abroad is the way to answer that question. By stepping into a new environment, you give yourself the space to discover what truly interests you, rather than following a path shaped by other people's expectations. Ultimately, studying abroad is not only a career move, it is an opportunity to understand who you are and what you genuinely want for your future.

The Advice He Wishes He'd Heard

When we asked him what he would do differently if he could start his applications over, his answer was immediate, and it may be the most practical advice he has for anyone about to begin.

He would ask for help much earlier. Looking back, he realised that trying to figure everything out on your own can leave you missing valuable information and opportunities that only become clear after deadlines have passed. If he could do it again, he would build his network from the start by reaching out to friends, senior doctors, academics, LinkedIn connections, and people already studying in the programmes he hoped to join.

The takeaway is simple: be bold enough to ask questions, make use of the people around you, and remember that you are not alone. One conversation with someone who has already been through the process can save months of uncertainty. and for many applicants, that realization comes a little too late.

Ready to take your own next step?

Congratulations again to Ming-Yao, from all of us at educations.com. We are proud to support his move to London, and we cannot wait to see where his work takes him.

If his story sounds like yours, take his advice. Our Scholarship Directory has hundreds of scholarships for international students.

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