Taiwan's biggest computer industry group will call for the government to relax restrictions on hiring foreign software and hardware experts and to build new educational institutions to meet a severe shortage of personnel in the high-tech industry, a spokesman for Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (TEEMA, 台灣區-電機電子工業同業公會) said.
"We'll be calling for an easing of the restrictions on local firms bringing foreigners here to work. We are hoping particularly to bring in engineers and programmers from India, Russia and China," he said.
"We'll also be asking for the government to build many more new schools specializing in high-tech, as well as setting up specialist hardware and software departments and research centers in vocational colleges," he added.
At present, foreigners hired by local firms can only stay for one year before having to leave the country. TEEMA officials will make their demands when they announce on Feb. 1 the results of a high-tech industry personnel survey conducted by the group which shows serious shortages of manpower, the official said.
The island's computer hardware sector most lacks trained staff in the DVD and LCD sectors, the official said.
Fifty-two year old TEEMA is Taiwan's oldest and biggest electronics industry group, with over 4,600 member companies.
Taiwan's software sector faces increasing global competition in its move to develop Internet products.
However, compulsory military service of over two years for almost all Taiwanese young men is a major handicap to the island's fast-developing Internet software industry, Tornado Technology Inc (
"Military service spoils the quality of graduates ... Most of them are men, and many fresh graduates go straight into the military and after they return they're out of touch with the Internet world," she said.
"One year in other high-tech industries is equivalent to four Internet years in terms of the advance of technology."
Tornado would be trying to hire 30 more high-tech personnel by the end of the year to add the company's around 30 C++ and Java programmers and system engineers. However, the quality of candidates remained poor, Lin said.
"We get hundreds of applicants but the main issue is finding really qualified, creative and talented people," she said.
Tornado supplies search engines and virtual community platforms to six out Taiwan's top ten websites and had revenues of NT$20 million (US$640,000) since its startup in June, Lin added.
Attempts to attract back highly technically qualified Taiwanese from California's Silicon Valley are hampered by a poorer quality of life and education system on the island, EMBA magazine's (
"Most of the highly qualified Taiwanese in Silicon Valley don't want to bring their children back to face the Taiwanese exam system," she said.
"And they're not used to Taiwan's lower level of economic development."
Deputy Administrative Yuan (
Personnel demand in the software industry far outstripped supply, Liu said, adding that in 1998, despite demand for 30,000 new personnel, only 8,000 software graduates entered the industry, with as many going abroad or changing profession.
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