An MPhil is a university degree you take after your first (bachelor’s) degree. The letters stand for Master of Philosophy. Though actually, it is not a degree in the subject philosophy unless you choose that subject — people do an MPhil in history, languages, science, and many other things. The “philosophy” bit is an old university habit, meaning serious study, not “Plato and Aristotle” by default. An MPhil is often more about your own research and a long paper, and less about sitting in classes, than some other master’s degrees. In Britain and places that follow that system, some students who start a PhD but do not finish it are awarded an MPhil instead. Taiwan’s usual path is 學士, then 碩士, then 博士; you will meet MPhil more when you look at UK, Hong Kong, or Australian universities. You say it “em-fil.”

MPhil（一種碩士，多半是研究型；不是「哲學系碩士」的意思）