The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the recruitment of the nation's first English teachers from overseas, who the government hopes will upgrade the standard of English teaching in Taiwan when they start work next year. The Cabinet also said that between next year and 2008 it hopes to attract 15 percent more foreign students as well as 5 percent more students born to overseas Taiwanese.
Addressing a press conference held at the Executive Yuan yesterday afternoon, Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (
"Since this is the first time that we will bring in English teachers from overseas, we hope to do it right and establish a sound mechanism," Huang said.
Huang made the remark after briefing Premier Yu Shyi-kun about the ministry's plan during the Cabinet's first cross-ministerial educational reform meeting chaired and presided over by Yu.
According to Huang, the program is estimated to cost the government about NT$510 million a year, including the NT$367.8 million annual salary for the 369 teachers, or about NT$994,579 per person. The contracts last from one to three years.
Of the nation's 23 counties and cities, excluding the two special municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung, Chiayi County will receive the greater number of English teachers -- 34. It is followed by Kaohsiung County's 32 and Taichung County's 31.
The remote region of Taitung County has eight vacancies, with Hualien County offering 10, Kinmen County eight and Lienchiang County five. Penghu County has no vacancies and Pingtung County has two.
The ministry also hopes to see the number of foreign students enrolled in colleges and universities increase by 15 percent and the number studying in language centers increase by 1,000 people. Officials are eager to see the number of students born to overseas Taiwanese wishing to study here increase by 5 percent.
The nation had about 7,300 foreign students studying at colleges and universities last year, including more than 6,000 studying in the language centers of colleges and universities. Most of them are from Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the US and Vietnam.
The number of students in Taiwan who are the children of overseas Taiwanese is 10,000. The majority of them are from Malaysia.
Twelve measures were mapped out to reach the ministry's goal. They include encouraging colleges and universities to use English as the instruction medium, increasing the scholarship budget for foreign students, providing low-income students born to overseas Taiwanese with government scholarships and establishing an international office to offer assistance and counseling to foreign students.
The Cabinet yesterday also agreed in principle to include the ministry's five-year, NT$50 billion plan designed to upgrade the quality of higher education in the Cabinet's five-year, NT$500 billion special project.
The ministry is looking to increase the prestige of the nation's higher-education institutions by moving Taiwan's colleges, universities and study centers up the Asian and world education rankings.
Regarding President Chen Shui-bian's (
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