The government will invest NT$500 million next year to send the nation's top students abroad for advanced study in 12 designated fields to avert a projected shortage of manpower in the science and technology sectors of major industries, the National Science Council (NSC) announced yesterday.
NSC Chairman Wu Maw-kuen (
Yu agreed to have the project launched on Dec. 15, when application brochures will be made available on the Web sites of relevant government agencies.
The deadline is Jan. 20 next year.
It is estimated that grants will be given to 874 students next year, with each student receiving up to NT$1.3 million. The results will be announced on March 30.
The budget allocated to the program is expected to be progressively increased, and officials hope to be able to help around 1,000 students by 2008.
The project was triggered by anxiety in the government as well as industrial circles about a dramatic decline in Taiwanese studying state-of-the-art technology overseas.
In 2002, the government announced the "Two Trillion, Twin Stars" economic development project to support the semiconductor and computer-display industries. According to projections, these two industries will reach an annual production value of above NT$1 trillion each within a few years. However, warning signals about a shortage of professionals have started to flicker.
Late last month, Wu joined university principals and high-ranking officials from the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) and the Ministry of Education on a fact-finding mission to San Francisco, where they attended a strategic meeting with college deans and professionals associated with the Academia Sinica.
At the meeting, 12 major fields were identified in which the country should promote study. They are basic science; biotechnology; graphic design; digital content; information and communication; semiconductor technology; energy; environmental and marine sciences; nanotechnology; the service industry (especially in the financial sector); international law; and the humanities and arts.
"We will also ask for donations from the industrial sector, because the project is designed to meet industry demand to a certain extent," CEPD Vice Chairman Hsieh Fa-ta (
According to Hsieh, any student determined to pursue a masters or doctoral degree can file an application, whether they have an admission letter from an overseas institution or not.
NSC Deputy Chairman Liao Chun-chen (
"For those who are awarded grants without being accepted at overseas schools, the NSC might even arrange possible destinations at world-class research institutes that have good relations with Taiwan," Liao said.
Students receiving financial support from the program will be obliged to return to Taiwan for a certain period of time after graduation.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS