The National Taiwan University System (NTU System) is considering opening branches in Southeast Asia in line with the government’s “New Southbound Policy” to assist in the education of students in the region and help Taiwanese businesspeople investing in the area, education experts said yesterday at a forum in Taipei.
The forum was a formal attempt to map out future developments for the system, whose members include National Taiwan University (NTU), National Taiwan Normal University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
The system was conceived in 2014 and approved by the Ministry of Education in March, with members complementing each other’s courses, sharing educational and library resources, and recognizing credits across different universities.
NTU president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) told the forum that with the formalization of the system, member schools hope to see a more effective alliance, including boosting recruitment of students from Southeast Asia.
Having an education in Taiwan or holding a Taiwanese degree is an attractive concept in the region, and many parents are willing to send their children to be educated in Taiwan, Yang said.
Schools in other countries are also willing to donate land for campus grounds or to forge a cooperation agreement with Taiwanese universities to foster their own students, Yang said.
The NTU System is in the unique position of meeting all of these demands, Yang said.
With more people being educated in Taiwan working in the region, Taiwan’s influence would grow, he said.
The system is planning to establish an overseas center in the region that would recruit students in limited numbers, he said, adding that a cross-university effort to establish training centers for, as well as building more dormitories to house, international students coming from the region.
The system will be looking into the possibility of a joint campus set-up in Southeast Asia, Yang said.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) New Southbound Policy aims to promote economic, education, tourism and agricultural exchanges to boost multilateral relations with Southeast Asian nations.
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