Taiwan has set a goal of attracting 500 graduate students from India next year, following the signing of a bilateral agreement last month under which both countries agreed to recognize higher education diplomas from the other, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said.
Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Matthew Lee (李世明) said that attracting some of the roughly 500,000 Indian students who study abroad every year will bring significant economic and cultural value to Taiwan.
LANGUAGE HELP
The graduate students, who will have to finance their travel to and studies in Taiwan themselves, will be provided with free Mandarin classes, Lee said.
Once these students finish their coursework in Taiwan, they will be the best candidates for managerial jobs in Taiwanese companies operating in India, he said.
“That could also increase Taiwanese businesspeople’s willingness to invest in India or expand their investments there,” Lee said.
As Indian students generally excel in math and English, attracting more Indian students to study in Taiwan could also help inspire Taiwanese students’ research and study abilities, Lee said.
EXPANSION PLAN
The program will initially focus on graduate students but will gradually expand to include undergraduates, Lee said.
There are currently 370 Indian graduate students studying in Taiwan.
Lee said the ministry was discussing similar programs with other Asian countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, to implement President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) target of attracting 20,000 foreign students to study in this country during his four-year term.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS