More than 50 educational institutions from across Europe took part in the 2005 European Higher Education Fair (EHEF) yesterday in a bid to encourage Taiwanese students to pursue their higher education in Europe.
The two-day fair, which is taking place at Hall II of Taipei's World Trade Center, includes schools from France, Germany, the UK, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Although the US remains the first choice for many Taiwanese students when studying aboard, increasing numbers of students are choosing to study in Europe, attracted by its multicultural environment and long history.
Despite this, Taiwan still has relatively inadequate information on education in Europe and the fair aims to promote higher education and its features and benefits in order to tempt more Taiwanese students to study there.
The different participating organizations at the fair collaborated and pooled resources hoping to better introduce Europe's educational development to students in Taiwan.
By organizing a joint event, the organizers hope to establish a much stronger relationship with Taiwan, and promote educational exchanges between Taiwan and the different European countries.
Menno Goedhart, director of the Netherlands Trade and Investment Office (NTIO), said "All the participating schools say that Taiwanese students are the best. They work very hard and their pre-education is at a high level."
"Quite a few students come to the fair having almost made up their minds and quite a few contracts are signed here. That's why more and more institutions are coming to the fair," he said.
Many European countries are now trying to create a more comfortable studying environment for Taiwanese and other international students.
For example, many colleges in Germany now provide bilingual international courses for foreign students.
The professors in such programs teach in both English and their native language to avoid foreign students experiencing language difficulties.
Similar programs are available in France, the Netherlands and many other European countries.
The fair will run until 6pm today. For information, those interested can check the exhibition Web site (www.ehef.org.tw).
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