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Minister urges students to visit non-English countries

More Taiwanese students ought to study abroad in non-English-speaking nations to increase their understanding of the world and promote globalization, Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) said yesterday.

Tu promised that the ministry would offer more scholarships to students to study in such countries.

He made the remarks to educators and government officials from Central and South American countries at the Seminar on Education Reform for Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

As almost 90 percent of Taiwanese exchange students go to countries where English is the official language, especially the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, Tu said that having an increasing number of students who study in non-English-speaking countries would help pluralize the nation.

Learning one more language would help students open another world, he said.

In order to promote multilingual learning, Tu said, the education ministry launched a program with the help of the College of Foreign Language and Literature and National Chengchi University to provide online courses in 23 languages.

Meanwhile, Tu said that the nation would continue its educational partnership with members of the international community.

Tu said that the nation would establish new relationships as it moves forward on its path toward internalization, adding that the ministry would announce plans on how to cooperate with the participating countries at the end of the seminar.

A total of 13 representatives from eight Latin American and Caribbean nations, mainly Taiwan's allies including Paraguay, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, St. Christopher and Nevis and Chile, are taking part in the six-day seminar, which began on Monday.

The seminar is aimed at helping Taiwan's international friends better understand its education policies.
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